Fouler Fowler

[LARSSON at VAX1.Mankato.MSUS.EDU]

Steve Maas wonders:
"I don't remember ever seeing any mention of Fowler's "A Reader's Guide to
GR," a useful reference book.  The scene-by-scene guide, thankfully in my
opinion, is generally weighted toward annotation of the text rather than
speculation; however the introduction includes a fair number of assertions
that it seems only TRP or his hairdresser could know for sure.  The
introduction also includes a discussion of "characteristic weaknesses" in
TRP's writing, to which I would respond that weakness is in the eye of the
beholder.  All in all, it's a useful tool for understanding obscure
references in GR, while seldom slipping into obscurities itself.  I was
wondering if this book is looked down upon for some reason or if maybe
most Pynchon fans aren't familiar with it."


Fowler has a few useful suggestions and a few helpful explications, but his
book is so riddled with judgments that replace actual observation and has so
little to support many of his factual speculations that it makes me extremely
impatient.  There are many times when I was led to wonder if he
d ever bothered to crack the simplest reference work (like a dictionary, for
example).

Steve Weisenburger's A GRAVITY'S RAINBOW COMPANION is so far superior (despite
some errors and omissions of its own)_that the two cannot even be compared!

Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)