V.V. (6) Pynchon's research

[jbor]

The setting is WW1; the second acronym mentioned was AEF, the Argonne 
Experimental Facility where, I assume, such medical procedures as described
(Halidom's allgrafts, for example) were actually carried out. This acronym,
the reference to the Flanders Field poem, and the mention of the various WW1
battle sites indicate to me that Pynchon undertook research above and beyond
whatever basic training is provided in the U.S. Navy.

Now that you mention in it, however, I do agree that Pynchon (b. 1937) would
have been very young to have acquired all that arcane and specialised
knowledge about Gnosticism, the history of religion, Baudelaire and whatall
else which others here are trying to attribute to him and impose onto his
texts, prior to the publication of _V._ anyway, especially when you consider
his 18 months active service in the navy (1956-7), studying Engineering and
then switching to English Lit. and Creative Writing at Cornell for a couple
of years, and then working at Boeing between early 1960 and mid-1962 while
he was polishing _V._ In these years he seems to have had a fairly lively
social life, and it appears to me that he was pretty much immersed in the
contemporary popular culture as well (everything from _Swamp Wench_ style
pulp novels to Rocketman comics to B-movies to pop songs, on the strength of
references and allusions within the texts). You misrepresent the "literary
critical approach" as you call it, but I guess that's your particular game
(--what you call "flame-baiting").

p.s. Didn't Al Gore make a gracious speech conceding that he'd lost the U.S.
election last week some time, and urge all American citizens to rally behind
the new President elect? How come partisan hacks such as millison are still
all backed up with sour grapes over it? And, what has it got to do with
Pynchon anyway?

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millison:
>

> Why would this demonstrate any special research on Pynchon's part?
> One shortcoming of the literary critical approach that ignores the
> author is that you run the risk of overlooking obvious facts such as
> Pynchon's stint in the U.S. Navy prior to writing this novel.
>