ASSumptions

[Sara Jones]

andrew at cee.hw.ac.uk writes:


>Henry Musikar writes:
>> Does anyone share both Pynchon and Romance with someone? I'm 
>> constantly reading p-l messages to the effect that the lister's 
>> s.o./spouse/whatever does NOT share their Pynchon mania. Hmmm... 
>> Mutually exclusive?
>
>
>My Jenny enjoys but is not obsessed by Pynchon. She is however hooked
>on tales from the P-list as a kind of high-class, lettered soap.


I find this statement offensive.  "lettered"? maybe... if lettered implies
formally educated, mainly formally educated in the use of vocabulary words.
 As for "high-class", I've never seen so much petty squabbling, idle
threats, dumb un-related one line replies to 500 lines of quoted text, and
non-literary or even topical comments.

I don't mind the volume of the mails, but there seems to be a group of
high-volume posters who seem to take great delight in tittering about their
greatness in being in such ivory tower cliques.  Folks, here's how I see it:

Everyone who reads a Pynchon book and enjoys it must be able to handle the
English language fairly well.  They also, by association, must find reading
a rewarding activity, and perhaps also have read other books.  Discussion
of TRP's works and/or other literary works which are related is what I am
on this list for, and what I enjoy about it.  Following up interesting
ideas like the "Rev. Cherrycoke"/coke mythos is fantastic.

Thousands of posts on how great it is to be you -- no thanks.

I'm glad "your Jenny" enjoys your relating of anecdotes, however I suspect
the case is more that "your Jenny" enjoys seeing you in high spirits and
having the pleasure of association with like-minded individuals, and could
care less whether its TRP or motorcycles which tickle your fancy.

whew.