the name's Diana

[LBernier at tribune.com]

Diana sez:

  > I never said anything about a matriarchate--what a bizarre leap that 
  > is! 

Uh, (to quote you) "duh", like leaping to the conclusion that JUST BECAUSE 
Andrew doesn't particularly care for COL49, it MUST be because he has a 
penis, and the heroine doesn't!  Do you ever actually listen to yourself?  
Enough!


<snip>

     
 > As for the possible dismissal of CoL49 because it has a heroine and not  
 > hero, this was suggested to me by someone at the recent conference and 
 > I thought I'd send it out.  If this is untrue, then BFD, who cares?  But 
 > it does seem weird to dismiss that book if you like Pynchon, which 
 > presumably to one degree or another we all do. So there's one 
 > explanation.

You know, that would've been a perfectly legitimate thing to throw out to 
the group:  Discuss amongst yourselves - do people dismiss COL49 because 
it's main character is a woman.  BUT NO!  You had to randomly attribute 
this attitude to Andrew.  Why can't you open a dialogue like a reasonable 
human being?  
     
  > And that's part of the problem--if this is a fan club then there's not 
  > much to say, is there?  He doesn't have an expansive enought oeuvre to 
  > justify daily postings in support of Pynchon-ness and yet any time we 
  > move towards something vaguely critical the bombs start falling.  Does 
  > the man have feet of clay?  Duh.  Are his works intriguing?  Duh.  
  > Somewhere in between there perhaps we can find a way to talk about the 
  > literature without getting defensive.  But until people stop 
  > pretending that growing up in racially and sexually stratified 
  > cultures hasn't affected them in the least, I fear we cannot.

We'll stop getting defensive when you stop opening every post with an 
attack.  Geez, what the F*** do you think people are supposed to do given 
to the tone of your posts?  And, BTW, I think you should take your own 
advice, and look at your own attitudes towards the sexes and races.  You 
seem to have gone completely to the other extreme, which is just as bad.  

     
Fed-up Jean.