Kenosha Kid

[Sean Desilets]

I completely agree with folks who question the value of readings that
suggest something in a book "is" something in the world. Inthe case
of pynchon, of course, the question is complicated by the fact that
there's something in his aesthetic that turns on these kind of frieghted
(often teasingly so) allusions to real people and things. That might be
something worthy of more serious discussion than whether the Kenosha Kid
is Orson Welles. 

That said, there's no doubt that kk works as a reference to Welles, as the
very fact that smart people read him that way demonstrates. welles may not
have been the referent that P had in mind, and there may be any number of
other possible candidates (I understand that other people have been
pitched for the role), but there are good resonances with Welles (who, I
think, did get called "the Kenosha Kid" at some point. 

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Sean Desilets			*		"The only people who
			*		*	believe that there is
Department of English		*		a language that is
East Hall		*		*	not theoretical are	
Tufts University		*		professors of
Medford, MA 02155	*		*	literature."
sdesilet at tufts.edu		*			Paul de Man

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