Pynchon genius (let's try it again)

[Greg Montalbano]

Henry's snappy rejoinder:
>"Genius" is a person, IMHO as evidenced by their best. Kinda 
>suprised, Greg, by your quantity test. Are there unpublished 
>geniuses, some perhaps even more private than TRP? Sure it's 
>disappointing when someone whose work we admire never gives us 
>anything as admirable as that work, or when an otherwise brilliant 
>person is generally unproductive, but I find the art as capital idea 
>very unpleansant. It's little better than "What kinda work do ya do? 
>How much @&#$% did you make last year?"

That's what I get for trying to write a note with a hoarde of people
storming my office & climbing up my leg (and may I add that, when it comes
to standing up really STOOPID in front of the Pynchon-l, those dreams of
being naked & unprepared in highschool seem like heaven).

What I was trying to say (in response to Paul's musings about genius
writers) was that, as far as I'm concerned, the writing is the important
thing -- not as "product", but kinda the whole point of being a writer.
The issue of the people behind the writing pops up every six months or so
on the list:  would you like to know this person, are details about their
personal life relevant to understanding/enjoying their work, etc etc etc.
But it seems to me (the older I get, and as fewer & fewer books seem to
pass the re-read test) that what separates a "genius writer" (as opposed to
a genius who is also a writer) from the rest is the ability to produce
WORKS OF GENIUS -- books like (oh, just as a random example) GRAVITY'S
RAINBOW, which not only demand re-reading, but seem to change & alter with
each read, and can change the reader in many obvious (& not so obvious)
ways.  Further, I was saying that, for me, any writer who can CONTINUE to
write at that level (not just cranking out self-imitations, but developing
& mutating in challenging, rewarding & delightful ways) is a good working
definition of "genius". 

Your definition may vary.

(Oh, cripes -- here comes the hoarde again).

~G~


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I tried taking it one day at a time, but people kept taking it every ten
minutes, 
so I beat them senseless and took it all and hid it.