Lineland vs. %list folks words - a brief review

[jester]

Brian,

This is a perfectly fair question.  As a great fan of The Man myself, and a
budding TRP scholar, I'd have to say that Lineland does introduce a few
small items of information which might be of help to someone seeking to
understand TRP's work.  However, some of that material can be found online
in the Pynchon's-L archives.  There are more than a few observances by Jules
that are extremely interesting, including a quote attributed to TRP
comparing his writing to Jules'.  Personally, I think this book will be of
interest to some scholars, and will probably be discounted by others.  But
the fact that it consolidates some very good discussion from this list and
provides Jules' Playboy article in printed/bound form, it should be an asset
to many (especially those offline).

If you're looking for deep discussion of TRP and his work, though, look
elsewhere.  Even Jules admits that early in the book, and the book is not
about that anyway, but about Jules' experience on Pynchon-l.  The TRP stuff
is just along for the ride.

JJ "Jester"

At 08:53 AM 05/09/1997 -0500, Brian D. McCary wrote:
>So my question is: is there anything new in Lineland about TRP's writing
>which is not available to the interested reader online, for instance in
>the archive or on Jules homepage?  Or would the Pynchon related material
>really be of primary use to people who are currently off line?  
>
>I think, knowing the answer to this, I can decide whether to get the book
>or not.