M&D vs. GR

[Jay Herzog]

	While I don't want to respond to Keith's trashing of M&D in a knee
jerk fashion, I challenge him to find a character in Pynchon's previous
oeuvre that has the depth and pathos of Charles Mason. Sure, GR is more
impressive in terms of pure technique, intensity and breadth of reference,
but it never affected me emotionally in the way that M&D did. I think
there's a certain backlash that's natural when a novel is hyped the way
that M&D was, but this is one of the rare occasions where the novel lived
up to the hype... 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	    J.W. Herzog             "Many stupid things are uttered by
 	 279 Fickle Hill Rd.         people whose only motivation is to
	Arcata, Ca. 95521-6505       say something original."	
  	   (707) 822-5471					Voltaire
                                                
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~