Sci-Fi and Writing

[OUTRSPACIA at aol.com]

"It was always easy for men to come and tell her who to be. Other girls of
her generation grew up asking, "Who am I?" For them it was a question full of
pain and struggle. For Gretel it was hardly even a question. She had more
identities than she knew what to do with. Some of these Gretels have been
only the sketchiest of surfaces -- others are deeper. Many have incredible
gifts, antigravity, dreams of prophecy . . . comatic images surround their
faces, glowing in the air: the light itself is actually crying tears, weeping
in this stylized way, as she is borne along through the mechanical cities,
the meteorite walls draped in midair, every hollow and socket empty as a
bone, and the failing shadow that shines black all around it . . . or is held
in staring postures, long gowns, fringe and alchemical symbol, veils flowing
from leather skullcaps padded concentric as a bike-racer's helmet, with
crackling-tower and obsidian helix, with drive belts and rollers, with
strange airship passages that thread underneath arches, solemnly, past
louvers and giant fins in the city mist. . . .            (p. 482, GR, the
royal Viking Penguin edition)

I reread this passage and thought of two things:
First: that we must not forget that Mr. Pynchon is capable of some beautiful
writing. It's something that is easily overlooked in the debates that rage
over content and meaning.

Second: I'm way behind on reading e-mail, but I know that science fiction and
Pynchon was a topic a while back. It seems to me that this paragraph suggests
why GR might be placed in that category, whether intended or not. Just look
at the words. (There's probably some kind of criticism that is based on the
words used, isn't there?) Antigravity, mechanical cities, meteorite walls,
obsidian helix, drive belts and rollers, strange airship passages, louvers,
giant fins in the city mist. And throw in those exotic z-words, Zone, Zhlubb,
Enzian, and all those zeros, and rockets and the military. And don't forget
the title itself. Some book reviewer daunted by the text might easily do his
own cliff notes and call it science fiction. Remove these words from the
history that gives the book its setting and you've easily got a science
fiction sounding novel.

So, I'm sure you settled the issue, as if it needed to be one, long ago. But
just thought I'd throw that thought on the heap. It's superficial, but maybe
that's all you need to make the sci-fi label valid.