GRGR(4) - Slothrop's Rape

[Meg Larson]

Oh shit--not the "was he on acid/not on acid debate," again???

"Can you hear me, Doctor Wu?
Are you really just a shadow of the man that I once knew . . .
Are you crazy, are you high?
Or just an ordinary guy?
Have you done all you can do,
Are you with me, Doctor?
Can you hear me, Doctor?"

(Apologies to Fagen and Becker--For all you hep cats out there, check out
Phil Woods' one-take sax solo on the aforementioned tune--priceless).

Some of my best work has come while under the influence of psychotropic
drugs, and some of my shittiest work, as well.  However drugged/not drugged
Pynchon was has little to do with the work that stands as the fucking best
novel of my lifetime, and that is in my not so humble opinion.  What counts
is what's on the page.

Was Slothrop raped?  Is OW the KK?  Does TS go down the toilet?  Is that
really a harmonica?  Can octopi be trained to attack girls on the beach?  Is
that really a zoot suit?  I don't know--what do you think?

This is and will always be what I consider to be the essence of Pynchon's
work--it's up to ME to decide what I want IT to be.  A-and the fact that
we're all discussing it in such incredibly stultifying detail is perhaps P's
main point:  give 'em something they can talk about.  At the end of the
discussion, they may have clues, but they still ain't got a fuckin' clue.

A-and anyone who claims to have the definitive reading of GR is, to
paraphrase Holden, a goddamned phony.  A-and this is not a slam at
Millison's ultimate reading concept, but Doug--ain't no such thing.  And I'm
not claiming that anyone has claimed to have this ultimate reading, but some
of you foax are getting close to makin that claim--shame on you.

So there.
M.

"If Jesus came back and saw that Pat Robertson was his spokesperson, 46% of
Americans think we'd all be in big trouble"
_TV Nation_ poll

Meg Larson
Saginaw, MI
meg.larson at worldnet.att.net
----- Original Message -----
From: David Morris <davidm at hrihci.com>
To: <Nudeants at aol.com>
Cc: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Friday, June 18, 1999 6:21 PM
Subject: RE: GRGR(4) - Slothrop's Rape


> matt mitchell:
> >Also keep in mind that Pynchon himself has said upon rereading
> >portions of the novel later on that HE (Pynchon) was so fucked
> >up during the writing of it that even he doesn't exactly know
> >what he could have meant.