Pynchon genius

[David Casseres]

>This is definitely on the right track of what was bothering me.
>The need for a subject, to reassure that a battle for our minds is being 
>waged. Don't we need SOMEONE to contest with, someone outside the text,
>to say you are full of shit to, if by some chance we should happen to 
>so believe. But yes, there is still the problem that the signal comes to 
>us THROUGH the text, so that it is all ONLY interpretation. Dern and
>dang.
>
>I must learn to break free.

OK, there seems to be a person who writes under the name Thomas Pynchon.  
For convenience, provisionally, let's assume there actually *is* such a 
person.  (Why assume that?  Because the alternatives -- an AI program at 
MIT, a bunch of clever grad students at Waterloo -- are so boring.)

There's considerable evidence that a man with that actual name exists and 
is the same person who writes under that name.  For convenience, 
provisionally, let's call the writer "TRP."  (Why assume that?  Because 
the alternatives -- Wanda Tinasky, Jules Siegel -- are so irritating.)

"TRP"is a genius, as can be seen by reading his books.  So, as a genius, 
does he flood the media with self-serving lies?  Does he publish 
outrageous collateral texts?  Is he notorious for substance abuse?  Does 
he instigate fist-fights or stick knives into people?  Is his sex life a 
matter of international discussion?  Does he visibly prostrate himself 
before all the prize committees one can find with a Web-search engine?  
Has he done time in jail?  Estranged his friends?  Bankrupted his family?

Apparently not.  Plenty of other geniuses have done those things, and 
when we read their books or whatever is considered their *actual work*, 
we seem to feel obliged to take all that other stuff as indispensible 
context.  I've never liked that but there it is.

So, I propose that with "TRP," the *lack* of other stuff be considered as 
indispensible context for his books.  This will save us all a great deal 
of time and effort in reading them, as we will not need to imagine or 
invent a lot of other stuff, ransack the Web for blurred photographs, und 
so weiter.  It may even give us greater insight into the only stuff about 
Pynchon that he has really given us to work with -- the books.


Cheers,
David