The Quest and the Grail (or Logocentrism)

[Thomas Eckhardt]

Terrance wrote:

>If Pynchon's attack is directed at Calvinistic Determinism,
>if
>in his fiction all  the manifesting of destiny and killing
>and repression can be laid at the feet of European
>Christians and those that despise the earth and people of
>color in HIS name, what has Pynchon to say that makes his
>novels any more worthy of study than a thousand commonwealth
>or post colonial writers that make such claims? 

I would be rather naive if I thought that it is Pynchon's attitude - more
precisely: the attitude I find expressed in Pynchon's writings - towards
Calvinistic Determinism etc. which makes his novels as good as I think they
are. Evaluation of literary fiction was not the topic. But one develops some
basic assumptions about the "Weltanschauung" which finds expression in the
fiction one reads. One such assumption very common among readers of
Pynchon's works is that they express a negative attitude towards Calvinistic
Determinism. I just remounted this well-flogged horse because you quite
surprised me by arguing the portrayal of Puritans in GR was sympathetic, as
if this was self-evident.  

>Is it true
>what some say of
>Pynchon? What he has to say is less important than how? Or
>as James Wood has claimed, Pynchon's fiction calls attention
>ONLY to itself? 

Is it true what some say about texts? Style and content cannot be separated?
As for the quote from that Wood guy, I just can't figure out what it means.
In fact I think it is nonsense.

>I'll respond to your post soon Thomas, I hope to catch a few
>matches too. I'm watching Spain now, please don't give any
>scores, we get the games delayed here, so we will watch
>Germany and Britain tonight at 11pm EST. 

Hmmm. Well, hope you enjoyed it... Congratulations to our English friends,
who will realize soon enough that their victory over Germany was only part
of an indeed devilish plot to have them eliminated from the tournament EVEN
THOUGH they finally managed to beat us...

Thomas

P.S. Thanks to Paul and Robert.