Pynchon's names and what they might mean

[rj]

dmillison
> rj, you're talking out of both sides of your mouth. 


> Denial can't erase the
> fact  that, as I clearly demonstrated in my earlier post, you accept the
> half-name allusion in the case of Monk,

doug, you misread me. I took the full name and characterisation of the
fictional character, McLintic Sphere, from the text.

> and, surprisingly and most
> illogically, reject it when it comes to considering that Geli Tripping
> might be an "echo" of Geli Raubal that helps us to put the Katje-Pudding
> sex act in a Hitler context 

I see no logical reason to conflate these two examples.

> (and I'm not setting up simple equations --
> "Pudding = Hitler" are your words, not mine; I think Pynchon wants us to
> think of many things when we encounter Pudding in that act, and Hitler is
> among them, but nothing is as straightforward and simple as the the
> one-to-one correspondence you set up as a straw man to knock down in this
> instance).

OK, we'll stick with "puts the Katje-Pudding sex act in a Hitler
context". I don't agree with this.

> Maybe you can explain when the method is valid and when it's
> not -- it's difficult to tell from reading your posts. 

It's the difference between proposing an influence, and imposing an
interpretation. I favour the former approach.

> Much has been
> written  on Pynchon's indicative naming.  Dugdale, for one, believes there
> are political subtexts below the surface meanings.

OK.

> If postmodernism allows
> that each critic  can more or less set up his/her own rules, what's wrong
> with giving weight to  names and half-names that are in the text?   Or is it
> that this application just doesn't meet with your approval.  

This is not my argument, nor my approach. You misread me.

> If so, we're
> clearly in the area of personal taste, not worth arguing about -- and if
> that's so, maybe you can remember that before you so blithely trash the
> possibility that some other critical approach other than your own might
> produce interesting readings of Pynchon.