Tolerance and Allegory

[Heikki Raudaskoski]

On Mon, 11 Oct 1999, Paul Mackin wrote:
> I've read a few glowing reviews of the Wood book but
> nobody says much about the Pynchon chapter. I ordered the book--should
> have just walked down the street to Borders--so'll have to wait.

Paul:

while waiting for the book to arrive, you (and others interested) can
check the review of _M&D_ by Woods in _New Republic_, which I gather 
is practically identical with the chapter in the book. Don't have it 
handy now, but it came out in _NR_ during the summer of '97. Anyone?

If the memory serves me, Woods' idea was that all TRP texts have an
allegorical tendency, which in the last instance petrifies them. Now 
this is bullshit; I would say that the unsettled quasi-allegorical 
impulse in Pynchon is on the contrary vital to keep the ball bouncing.

Heikki