Pynchon & Fictional names...

[Wolfe, Skip]

David sez:

>I know a lot of people on this list have a fascination with a lot of the
>names Pynchon assigns his characters in various novels...has anyone
>noticed that Jack Kerouac has the same effect?  That his characters begin
>to personify the names they've been given?  For example, Dean Moriarty in
>_On the Road_ _is_ the protagonist; he could have no other name...

>So, is the hallmark of a great writer the ability to come up with names
>that are strangely appropriate for the character's characterization?  If
>this makes any sense to anyone, let me know...

Makes sense to me -- that it's a (maybe not  the) hallmark of a great 
writer.  You have to wonder about the chicken/egg effect, though . . . do we 
associate the name with a particularly vivid rendering of a character, or is 
the name evocative in and of itself?  For instance, the name Pirate Prentice 
calls up an image for me; but I think that image is mainly evoked by 
Pynchon's toss-off description of him as a "big mean mother" (or something 
to that effect), and the name's just along for the ride.  On the other hand, 
names like Pig Bodine or Dewey Gland couldn't be more apt.   And it's more 
subtle, I think, than just choosing a name that is illustrative of the 
character's . . . well, character (I'm thinking, for example, of Gabriel Oak 
in _Far From the Madding Crowd_).  It's the sounds of the words themselves, 
cultural resonances -- lots of things.   Dean Moriarty, by the way, always 
reminds me, uncomfortably, of the Sherlock Holmes arch-villain.  So I guess 
the reader brings his or her own filters into the process too.  Our recent 
discussions of the name Frenesi were colored for me by recollections of a 
girl by that name I actually knew in high school.

     Skip