OK

[Tom Stanton]

At 07:42 PM 3/23/97 -0500, Isaac Schankler wrote:
[big snip]
>    Pynchon was by far the toughest to read of the 3 (Rushdie, Calvino, TRP).

An earlier post noted V. never read the same way twice & I have to 
agree about all his books, though I prefer GR's re-readability (btw, we 
ever gonna resume the GRofGR??).

>    V. is just incredibly dense, no?   [more big snips]...All the edges in 
>    V. seem to be blurred... characters, places, times meld together and 
>    they're hard to distinguish, and it made the book infuriating to read
for me.
>     "What if that's the point?" 

Shades of Jules Seigel!, a TRP contemporary who wrote 
"Who Is Thomas Pynchon... And Why Did He Take Off With My Wife?"
http://www.caribe.net.mx/siegel/pynchon.htm where you'll find the
following:

"I had complained about the complexity of V. ' Why should things be easy to 
understand? ' he [Pynchon] retorted and followed with a brief dissertation
on the origins of the simple English movement in the studies of
comprehensibility of newspaper copy commissioned by the Associated Press."

You're in good company, pal.

>Because of the project, I've been reading literary criticisms of the
>book and also trying to find my own angle... it may have tainted some of
>the enjoyment I might have had reading the book.
>    Or perhaps I am not sophisticated enough to understand the novel?

At the risk of offending the academics who do provide huge insight, you're
more likely to enjoy Pynchon if you don't take him too seriously. Zap Comix
ala Shakespeare (*not* the other way around) will yield worthy results.

[big snip of stuff I could agree with at times]

>    Is anyone on the list an academic "expert" on Pynchon?   An email
>"interview" would probably help me immensely with my project.

On this list everyone's card reads "Have Gun, Will Travel." If you haven't
looked, try http://www.pomona.edu/pynchon/ and
http://www.hyperarts.com/v/v-novel.html for website starts.

>    (Yes, I am motivated ultimately by selfishness, sadly enough.)

TRP loves the unwashed (see "Low Lands").

Just a fan.

Tom