General disillusionment

[E. Dominic Black]

I've been on this list for years and am always amazed at the things you
people write. You are so smart, drawing from sources all over. I'm both
impressed and in awe of your mastery. Yet I often have no idea what
you're talking about. I've read everything by Pynchon except for M & D,
which I have purchased. I've downloaded a concordance, I'm ready to
roll. I'm a little hesitant to begin, because, before I joined the list,
I read his novels for pleasure, delighting in the little discoveries I
made therein. But after plowing through daily postings of the most
esoteric parts of the novels, I question whether I am truly "getting"
TP's work. Have I somehow been misled into thinking that I know what
he's talking about?

E. Dominic Black