Pynchon reference in "The Onion"

[David Kellogg]

On Mon, 7 Feb 2000 Lycidas at worldnet.att.net wrote:

> Pynchon turned good? 
> 
> We all know why "English" departments are reading wwf books
> and Pynchon has nothing to do with it, but what is meant by
> "Pynchon turned good"?/

It's bizarre phrasing, isn't it.  If you know the Onion's style of humor, 
you'll know that they're very interested in blowing the top off language 
that is "routinized" (to use a Weber term Pynchon employs in GR).  I assume 
that it's meant to suggest some sea-change that isn't: "turned good" like 
"went commercial" used of a band that was always commercial, like the 
Stones.  But maybe the joke didn't carry off. 

Cheers,
David
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David Kellogg			Duke University 
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