M&D 773 (was Re: Some finer points of grammar)

[davemarc]

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> From: Alan Westrope <awestrop at crl.com>
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Whole book spoiler
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in part:
> This reminds me of the remarks by reviewers to the effect that Pynchon
> largely ignores his narrator once the story proper is underway.  I
> disagree!  I think Cherrycoke is a wonderful example Pynchon's use of
> recursion in a cinematic manner (recall, say, episode 14 of GR).  When
> the narrative shifts from the story of M&D to the story of Cherrycoke
> and his listeners, I'm reminded of films like Amadeus, not to mention
> literary classics like the 1001 Nights, Canterbury Tales, the
Decameron...
> (I think I recall a recent thread here about the use of the frame-tale.)
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I see P using the Cherrycoke narration as a device for starting the book
that he eventually abandons.  This is like (but not exactly the same as)
his strategy in V. and GR, yes?  He kicks off a narrative with a certain
focal point, then changes the focal point as the narrative continues.  In
M&D I think he's celebrating strategies in the Famous Books listed above,
but also in even Quirker Works like Don Quixote (a la the meeting between
the characters M&D and characters found in a book in the book M&D). 
There's also an element of Christmas story (family gathered for a tale)
parodying here.  Earlier this year I read some of Robert Benchley's short
Christmas story parodies; there are some affinities between them and the
enormous one of M&D.

davemarc