Idea: Disband P-List

[Greg Montalbano]

I've been planning to do this since January.

I've noticed that, whenever some new meat joins the list & asks about the
best reference material to use when first reading TRP, the response is
invariably to read the book on your own, on it's own, without distraction.
Then, for the second (or third) reading, consult the opinions, research &
glosses available from everywhere else.

I sure couldn't imagine reading the new one any other way.

(And maybe it DOES hurt to unsubscribe the first time, Chris;  but if you do
it routinely, like I do, it gets easier.  You can always re-up later.)
~Greg

On 4-10-97, Chris (no, not that one) wrote:
>Is there anyone else like me who is debating, when the new book becomes
>publicly available, whether to unsubscribe from the list?  Yes, I know, I'm
>surely addicted, even though I've only been here a little while.  The
>steady stream of insight and commentary livens a dull day, but I worry
>about a coming flood.  Despite spoiler warnings, judgement will creep into
>the discussion.  I might be happily enjoying p.100 when everyone else
>agrees, "M&D disappoints, better re-read GR."  To me this author and this
>book may be too important to not go it alone.  
>
>Compared to other p-listers, I'm pretty unwashed.  I first found Pynchon in
>a used bookstore a little over a year ago.  A friend had recommended V. but
>I forgot the title so I bought Gravity's Rainbow.  Immediately I left the
>world and disappeared into the Zone, only putting it down from exhaustion,
>much too late at night, not wanting to let go of a single word or phrase
>until my next sitting.  You can probably imagine the rest, since I'm now on
>the list.
>
>When I pick up M&D I don't care to know if the book is popular, critically
>successful, or a literary masterpiece.  As much as I love your ideas, wit
>and longitudinal yearnings, I won't need to know at all what's going on in
>the outside world.  I might be alright without encyclopedic preparation.
>Your voices would be too much like family, one too complicated to bear.
>Quasi-promos from bookstores and marketing groups become disconcerting
>because I always decide *after* I've read them that I rather should have not.
>
>This message is not for everyone.  It may be for you.  You may recognize
>addiction as a disease.  Come the end of April you need not sit glued
>waiting for news on the p-list.  It's easy to unsubscribe, though the
>confirmation part does sting a bit.  You're not facing extinction, or even
>a figurative death-in-life, no running shoes, purple shrouds or fivers in
>pockets required, so don't toss your tupperware.  Just hop off the bus,
>breathe a sigh of relief, take your new book in hand, set out on your own,
>and get it straight from the master, cara a cara.  
>
>I haven't made up my mind.  I look forward to any advice or suggestions.
>
>
>Thanks,,,
>
>Chris
>
>