Manifesturbation

[Daniel Stein]

>Hmmmmm....says a lot about the ability, or lack thereof, of college
>professors to teach writing.  However, I will assume that you read the
>manifesto and can critique the same.  Interesting how the intelligentia
>criticizes writing style when they are the focus of an attack.
>
>This is not a flame!  Honest.
>
>John
>
>On Wed, 20 Sep 1995, Daniel Stein wrote:
>
>> It couldn't be Pynchon - no one who writes that well could blather on for
>> nearly a hundred pages writing with (according to K. Sale):
>>
>> > the leaden language and stilted diction, the fondness for sociological
>> >jargon and >psychobabble, and the repeated use of "we argue that" and "we
>> >now discuss" and the like, (that) make it certain that this was written
>> >by someone whose writing style, and probably whole intellectual
>> >development, was arrested in college
>>
>>
No way do I take it as a flame...The intelligentsia critique writing even
when they are NOT the focus of an attack!!  "A-and" isn't the true paranoid
ALWAYS under attack?

I heartily agree that something in the 'college professor' (or at least the
atmosphere in college classrooms) does much to stifle the stunning
intellectual "reach" exhibited by Pynchon, a person who is apparently
interested in almost anything. 'Stodgy' expression and tunnel vision (at
least relative to TRP's) can be found anywhere on campus, perfuming not
just the language and literature departments (incl. film, drama, etc.). Not
to mention the kind of verbiage generated by engineers and scientists,
language justified on the basis of a very specific agenda which (at least
within the S&E communities) pretty much excludes 'deconstruction' of its
'meaning'...UnaB is no academic scientist, on my best guess - he/she
doesn't appear to have the analytical chops. Pynchon (as I understand it)
at least had it together enough to tackle subjects like fluid mechanics and
control theory at Cornell. Lucky for him his diverse talents enabled him to
enjoy a richer (!) career than as a mere technodrone for some aerospace
giant - OR as an academician lurking in the library or coffee bar.

On the other hand (typical manifesturbationese!) someone who writes as well
as Pynchon does indeed HAS the talent to write 'badly' as an exercise. See
(or hear) for example, Leo Kottke's comic thrashing in the sardonic yet
poignant "Tilt Billings and the Student Prince" (on _Ice Water_) in which
he mimics (but does not actually produce) the sounds of a guitar novice
struggling with a decrepit instrument a reveler at a frat party has just
crushed under his/her butt.

I don't want to spend too much effort commenting on the content of the
manifesto. This is, after all, not the Unabomber Discussion Group. I just
don't think TRP could force that kind of crap out for 60 or 70 pages
worth...


Daniel J. Stein        {; < 0>         stein at magma.geol.ucsb.edu
Geological Sciences                http://www.geol.ucsb.edu/~stein
University of California        (805) 893-8130 (voice)
Santa Barbara, CA 93106        (805) 893-2314 (fax)

...In the country of the bland, the one odd man is king.