DFW

[Alan Joyce]

On Thu, 19 Dec 1996, Murthy Yenamandra wrote:

> As for most critics, they seem to find Pynchon interesting only for the
> postmodern quality of his fiction and not really for his concerns and
> themes - they somehow come across as wanting to empty his books of all
> meaningful content and just admire the surface (or don't pay any
> attention to what he's saying because they can't get past the surface).
> Which is the postmodern condition, I suppose, but it's still a pity.

I couldn't agree more.  I love Pynchon's writing, regardless of content,
but his insight into so many different themes and cultural/historical
threads is what keeps me coming back for more.  Reading V and GR always
has the effect, for me, of summoning up all the ghosts of the twentieth
century for my own personal haunting...I always have the feeling that
encoded somewhere in the book, somewhere in this or that vaguely suggested
pattern of images, just outside my field of view or comprehension, is a
more complete understanding of modern (postmodern?) existence than I'm
likely to find elsewhere.  Such a wonderfully creepy and addictive
feeling...

Incidentally, I've been pointed to the Pynchon-L archives, where I see
that all the TRP vs. DFW arguments I could ever hope for have been stored. 
My apologies for attempting to open up what seems to have been an
occasionally ugly debate. 


Alan Joyce
caj3+ at pitt.edu