pynchon-l-digest V2 #1564

[Doug Millison]

Interesting discussion, re PoMo, etc.  But I wonder, do you really 
think Pynchon spent the mid- to late 60's reading cutting-edge French 
literary theory and devising his own response to same? Obscure works 
that may have been available only in French -- with little evidence 
that Pynchon had any facility in French that would allow him to fully 
engage such works? During a period when he apparently spent quite a 
bit of time as far out of circulation as he could get, in Mexico? 
Considering that by his own account (letter to his agent that 
surfaced a couple of years ago) he was working on several novels 
simultaneously (some of us here on the P-list have suggested that 
they might include GR, COL49, M&D, at least parts of Vineland), and 
considering the proof -- his output which is not only staggering in 
quality, reflecting awesome feats of research, but also prodigious in 
volume -- that comes in the pudding, I wonder when he might have 
found the time to delve so deeply into literary theory.  I'm not 
denying the possibility that Pynchon was in fact on the cutting edge 
of literary critical theory, but it seems a bit odd that he could do 
that and at the same time produce the novels he was busy producing. 
And please don't misunderstand me -- some of my best friends are 
Pynchon scholars who live and breathe literary critical theory; I've 
spent many a happy hour reading their work and the works that inspire 
them; it's a fine way to spend one's time. I'd caution against 
projecting that same pleasure back onto Pynchon himself, however.
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