A sandwich ain't nothing but food

[Grant White]

The best thing about crappy literature (or perhaps I should say writing) 
is that it makes the good stuff seem so wonderful. 
Everything has a context, TRP himself makes abundant use of both the high 
end  of culture and the low so I guess the point is that being exclusive  
about literature precludes an awful lot of stuff that may have relevance 
and meaning.

Grant

--                                                                       -
Grant White                        |
Multi-media & Special Collections  |
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On Tue, 17 Oct 1995, Hartwin Alfred Gebhardt wrote:

> Paul writes:
>  
> > > According to John Burgess:
> > 
> > > Besides, if one does not see TRP as "heroic" in some form, then however 
> > > does one find him/herself in this mailing list?
> > 
> > 	Sounds kind of exclusivist to me.
> > 
> > 			Paul
> 
> Of course it is. So what? 'Exclusivism' is not a dirty word. Someone 
> started this list, calling it Pynchon-l; this already broadly defines 
> the area of interest for all those who have subscribed, and excludes 
> other authors unless they are somehow related to Our Hero. (VIVA 
> PYNCHON VIVA!) 
> 
> On a slightly more serious level: the question of whether one can or 
> should distinguish between 'good' writing and 'bad' writing, or between 
> 'literature' and 'pulp', always tends to come up. Personally, and 
> while not prescribing to any abolute notions of quality or the fixed
> meaning of adjectives, I certainly believe that Thomas Pynchon is 
> a better writer than Stephen King or Gore Vidal, that most romance 
> and fantasy novels 'suck', that by far the greater majority of all 
> publications are an absolute waste of 'innocent' trees, and that 
> there are entirely too many Major Marvy's in this world. In this 
> regard I am quite cheerfully exclusivist and even <gasp> elitist.
> 
> What do others think about this?
> 
> h(aughty)g(uy)
> hag at iafrica.com
>