is GR the best Pynchon work?

[Doug Millison]

I don't agree with his assessment of M&D any more than I agreed with 
the other negative reviews that greeted the book, but it's a pleasure 
nonetheless to read of Malign's response to M&D in a longer 
explanation than the curt and rather simple-minded dismissals he's 
previously offered.  I've been able to find lots of reasons to like 
M&D, and I've shared many of them here on Pynchon-L, especially in 
the reading and research that I offered during the MDMD.  But of 
course Malign -- and all of us - have the right to respond to the 
book as he wishes, and nothing has ever stopped him, or anybody else 
as far as I can tell, from posting his thoughts on this or any other 
issue.

Speaking of hagiography, putting GR, as wonderful as it is, up on a 
pedestal, enshrined as so many Pynchon readers have enshrined it -- 
that blinding glow, hands folded in prayer,  eyes half-closed in 
adoration  -- may make it difficult to appreciate Pynchon's other 
work.  The tug of nostalgia may be difficult to resist, too, for 
those of us who first encountered GR at the time of its publication, 
or at some other particularly rich time of life that, in retrospect, 
seems to glow  -- sort of like preferring the earlier tunes of a 
favorite band (maybe because they were on the radio when you were 
dating your first great love) and deciding that the band's later work 
just doesn't measure up (after the relationship fell apart).

I'm not embarrassed to admit that I've enjoyed many a happy hour over 
the years, reading each of Pynchon's books, re-reading them, reading 
what others have had to say about them, reading other books that 
Pynchon points to through direct mentions and by allusion.  (I should 
know better, at my age, than to continue to be suprised that a 
sincere expression of love for Pynchon's works would encounter such 
ridicule, as it has from a few voices, in a forum devoted to his 
works, but that does continue to surprise me.) Each of his books, to 
my way of thinking, offers unique satisfactions. There are constants, 
of course:  Pynchon's powerful prose and playful syntax; the 
recurring characters and continuing engagement with many of the same 
political, historical, scientific, mythological, religious, 
philosophical, etc., issues; plus other factors that make it easy for 
me to move from one book to the next without a hitch. This doesn't 
mean I find them all uniformly excellent, that every passage of every 
book reaches the same pinnacle of brilliance -- but on the whole the 
novels represent, for me, a body of work that repays re-reading, 
study, and discussion.

I have seen thoughtful comments posted here that take a point of view 
regarding GR and M&D different from the one Malign has expressed. 
There is a feeling of human warmth in M&D,  well-rounded characters, 
human relationships depicted in a depth that is absent from GR. GR is 
very much a young man's book, full of rage. M&D is very much the work 
of a mature author, who has had the time to delve even more deeply 
into the cultural concerns that so obviously come into play in GR; it 
is a book that depicts, in particular, a nuanced and moving picture 
of family relationships, as well as the despair that can come with 
growing old.  To name just a few of its delights. A case can be made, 
easily, that M&D does indeed pay off the promise that GR proffered. 
Is the prose as beautiful?  To my eye and ears, yes. I took the time 
to listen to the Books On Tape version of M&D, and recommend the 
experience to any Pynchon reader.

I would say that MDMD showed many of us (those of us who who 
participated in MDMD, at least) the  satisfactions -- different but 
deep satisfactions nonetheless --  to be had in the reading of this 
work that Pynchon has produced in his maturity.  VLVL showed many of 
us (the ones who were actually doing the work of reading and 
explicating and discussing it, not the ones who were sitting on the 
sidelines throwing rocks) that Vineland has much to offer, too. 
Several scholars have begun to take a serious interest in Vineland, 
with substantial results, too. And, the first wave of serious 
treatments of M&D is beginning to appear. Great days for Pynchon 
readers all the way around!

-Doug

P.S. Nobody ever confused Malign with Mittelwerke.  The latter showed 
a streak of wit and intelligence, even in the most obstreperous 
comments (some of which did upset me, it's true; perhaps you can 
forgive me for expressing a human emotion now and again, even when it 
does upset the P-list irony police -- the keep cool and don't care 
crowd), that Malign never has managed to muster.

-- 

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