Elitist Pynchon-ites?

[Ron Meiners]

At 02:31 PM 4/25/00 -0500, slothrop wrote:
> He uses these forms as metaphors, encompassing different
>aspects (tiny fragments, if you like) of the grand collective human
>experience. After all, his writing IS anthropocentric (I would be very
>interested in your views on this particular issue). Take for example the
>argument between Gustav and Säure (GR, pp. 440-1) on Rossini vs. Beethoven,
>which turns out to be a conflict between the Italian and the German
>Weltanschauung, or Southern and Northern culture in general. You will notice
>that Pynchon doesn't take sides. Both views are presented as equally valid,
>because both, jointly, help form an idea about (and are constituent parts
>of) the "real" world (either without or within). This "real" world knows no
>exclusions. It defies any attempt at analyzing it. It just IS. Likewise,
>music is immune to verbal analysis and cannot be confined to the strict
>space of a novel. But, on the other hand, of course, a novel (especially one
>as full as GR) cannot be confined to the strict space of a piece of music,
>or even a whole genre of music. We 're talking about two completely distinct
>things which co-exist as parts of the larger picture but are not subject to
>one-on-one identification.
>I hope I am making some sense...

Delightful. 

However, a quibble- the list, GR, one might argue musical compositions
themselves are arguably an attempt to do precisely this- to analyze life,
or music, or what have you.  Mind you, no work of art encompasses all of
life, or another art form, but these processes certainly refer to each
other, and, to a limited extent, describe each other in meaningful terms.
Clearly, the experience exists "beyond" these things.  But we both have
some fuzzy notion of experience when I use the word.  

I think...

rm

PS Actually, there's a little more to it than that?  I think in addition to
whatever else, GR might be considered as well an attempt to induce the
state in which reality, or meaning, is perceived directly, not through the
filters of analysis or whatever.  Certainly some music does this.  I think
paranoia can be seen as the first step down this road- the destabilization
of the societal structure, which engenders the imposition of newly created
frame for reality on the part of the "observer".  The fun part is coming
out the other side, so to speak- drawing enough meaningful experience to
create a structure- or not- that nourishes.  Note, the various power (or
whatever) structures at work in probably every society, almost by
definition, ensure that the newly awakened "paranoid" has plenty of
material to create a perceived antagonistic reality.  A fine line to walk...
In my case, the deciding factor was a certain honesty- I knew my
perceptions were not correct.  Or perhaps there's more to it even-
certainly I was reading lots of "paranoid" literature then (Pynchon,
Cortazar, Dostoyevsky, etc.)- and the confirmation of the state I was in as
something meaningful or spiritual or whatever was certainly very meaningful
to me- a cornerstone, even, of my current reality structure- yes, one that
is loosely focused on experiencing life outside of structure.  
Though this too sort of confirms my initial point- I think it does make
sense to talk about music...