Expectations (was Hey 19)

[John Sutherland (S&T Onsite)]

Saith Steely:
>>If M&D continues the trend of maturation established in Vineland, then I
think we're talking the literary equivilent of Alzheimer's Disease for
Tommy Boy. Hopefully, though, most of M&D was written back in the late
1970s, when it was promised to us by Viking, and when TRP was still at
the
top of his game. I don't think "caffiene abuse"--no matter how
severe--is
the etiology of Pynchon's writing problems in the 80s and 90s.

The press release makes M&D sound like something out of Tom Robbins, not
Pynchon's Finnegan's Wake or--even better--The Confidence Man. (Nobody
reads Pierre these days, but that would have been one to shoot for two.
In
fact, there are some mornings when I think Pierre is the best American
novel.)<<



I gotta problem with the Expectations Game around M&D betrayed by words
like "Pynchon's Finnegan's Wake."  I can see where it comes from, but we
gotta check ourselves with the reality that Old Mad Tom doesn't belong
to us.  He's free. If that winds up disappointing you, or pissing you
off, that's your problem, not his.

I remember when David Shields reviewed Vineland for The Seattle Times,
he described it as "heartbreaking" because it wasn't on the scale of GR,
and from Steely's Alzheimer's snipe, it looks like he felt the same way.
 Yeah? So?  I rather suspect Old T knew this would happen and did it on
purpose, reluctant literary messiah that he is.  

So, what of M&D, already covered with pavlovian drool?  Watch it, folks.
 Be open to art.  Read what comes, not what you think is coming.

John

>