GRGR (18): error vs. style

[rwan]

----- Original Message -----
From: Jsh Krtbn <kortbein at iastate.edu>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Friday, January 07, 2000 8:02 PM
Subject: Re: GRGR (17): german samples


>
> Paul Mackin writes:
> >
> >
> >On Fri, 7 Jan 2000, Lorentzen / Nicklaus wrote:
> >
> >
> >> >Why should we assume that the type of anachorism outlined
> >> > above can occur only in one language, the apparently dominant
language?
> >> > By saying this aren't we falling into the whole cultural imperialism
> >> > trip ourselves, or implying that Mr Pynchon has, when it is patently
> >> > clear that he hasn't and that this is one of the most important
themes
> >> > of his text? For me, there is *always* meaning in the minutiae, the
> >> > devil in the details, so to speak.
> >>
> >>   mmhh, i will think about it. this 'german error'-issue seems to be
more
> >>   complicated than i thought ...
> >
> >
> >Why doesn't anyone ever point out P's grammatical errors in English?
> >Assume there must be a few here and there. Not that I would notice them.
>
> When does it count as an error, and when is it "style"?


I wouldn't know whether there are any grammatical errors in GR, I haven't
noticed any, (but then I'm not a native speaker of English, either. I
haven't even ever lived in any country where English is a - second or third
or nth - "official" language.) But that's beside the point, which is that
when someone does point out some misspellings or syntactical anomalies in GR
I'll certainly will give it a guess whether it simply is an unnoticed error
or one consciously applied to make a point. But..... even though the author
is the first person who can - and the only one who may - initiate an error
in his work, lot's of mistakes are being made further on in the production
chain, so supposing that someone does find a grammatical mishap, it might
make sense to compare different edition as well.
r.