"Difficult"?

[doktor at primenet.com]

The alarmingly bright Greg Montalbano writes:

[snip]

>...I really HAVE been bothered by the increased carping about the
>difficulty, and the implications thereof -- possibly resulting from readers
>who dichotomize into form vs content, when we've been presented with novels
>that give us plenty of both, and then some.

Sounds to me like we're essentially in agreement.  You say, If Pynchon is
this enjoyable, then he can't be difficult; I say, Pynchon is enjoyable to
the degree he _is_ difficult.  Maybe this is a distinction without a
difference.

Couple of other things occurred to me:

1) I think that is was reported that when Pynchon was asked why his writing
was so difficult, he responded by asking, "Why should things be easy to
understand?"  This sounds to me like TRP himself admits he is difficult and
doesn't give a hoot.

2) A cynic is someone who knows the cost of everything and the value of
nothing.  Some of those who pan Pynchon are cynics.

Cheers,

Jimmy

http://www.angelfire.com/oh/Insouciance/