Absence: A Clarification

[MASCARO at humnet.ucla.edu]

I have always thought of TP's choice to be at least partially
 (personal compulsions aside) an acknowledgment of TS Eliot's
 *self effacement* of the author, that famous notion developed in the essay
 *Tradition and the Individual Talent* (maybe?).  In this sense,
 yes, also connected also to the New Critical zeitgeist.

I see a lot of Eliot influence on TP, not least of which is the conscious
 adoption of a *possum* persona.
john m
********************************
Good stuff from Harrison S:

<snip>

>I have always understood Pynchon's famed reclusiveness as an _artistic_
>stance, a peculiarly (neurotically?) insistent comment on art
>itself--namely, that the artist is peripheral, unecessary, even to the
>the art. Think
>about critical theories prevalent when Pynch was a student, theories
>that asked
>whether we need to know the author of a work before we can judge its
>merits. (John Crowe Ransom? The New Criticism? It's been quite a while;
>I'm a little vague....)
>
>Just speculatin' here.
>
>Harrison
>
>