The Gnostic Pynchon

[Terrance]

The noose of Modernism

Sometime around the turn of the century revolutionary
developments, that involved new subject matter, style, and
technique, and ultimately a radical rethinking of the
relationship between fiction and reality, changed what we
call, the novel.  This change, this era in the history of
the novel, like the corresponding periods in the history of
poetry, drama, and other arts, is called Modernism. The
roots of Modernism are exceptionally diverse and this is
because Modernism sprang from cross-fertilization between
cultures, between art forms and between disciplines. 

We don't need Post anything to compare and read Pynchon
across disciplines, nationalities, or history. What you seem
to be crediting postmodernism with is progressive
pedagogical practices, but that's not quite a Pomo thing and
what you are suggesting about where Pynchon will be read and
why does not correspond with what has and is happening here
in the US. 

The situation here is grim and fighting over post and modern
Pynchon is almost beside the point. I regret to say that I
consider English, Comparative Literature, Philosophy and
several other fields like art history 
professional dead ends. As I wrote to Paul, if my son starts
showing serious indication of entering the humanities, I
will have a serious problem, for I won't want to discourage
him, but I don't want to support him until he gets a shield
to drive a yellow cab. Despite the MLA's habitual deception
that the job crisis isn't really so bad, it is. It seems we
have turned our backs on the humanities and for very good
reasons: they aren't providing the intellectual and
professional capital to help students in the real world.
Here it is the money and the money and most citizens are
doing well in the new economy and would be more than willing
to fund English, or Comparative Literature if they felt
their children were accumulating intellectual capital.
Citizens aren't going to shell out their hard-earned money
for philosophy or even philosophy of technology, of science,
of mathematics, of computer science, and I don't think
gender studies, identity politics, and Pomo/Film/Pynchon is
high on their list either. Sorry, I simply do not think it
has anything to do with cross departmental
anthropology/myth/history/Pynchon classes. Pedagogically I'm
all for it, but what will all the young women do with Woman
Studies degrees if they can't pay the rent for a room of
their own? Pynchon will survive. I'm convinced of that,  but
I'm not so sanguine about the prospects for those that teach
his fiction, Pomo, Mo, Larry or Curly.  Until the humanities
can demonstrate that it has a positive content that
contributes to the bottom line, no one is going to take it
seriously.    
 
"The lobster buoy hitch
was particularly good to tie to
timber," 

				---Proulx, The Shipping News



jbor wrote:
> 
> >
> >> Still, why label Pynchon a Gnostic?  Defies labels pretty well, wouldn't you
> >> say?  Although they've still got a noose or two around him like "Post-Modern
> >> Author" or "Recluse" or whatever.
> 
> Actually, that postmodern writer label is his stay of execution imo. It's
> traditional philosophy which has him coded and compartmentalised on the
> library catalogue between Barbara Pym and Ayn Rand, and the traditional
> critics who would have him share the bookstore shelves with Mailer, Updike
> and Wolfe.
> 
> With postmodernism those nooses of nationality and temporality and
> disciplinarity have begun to unravel. We can talk about Pynchon in the same
> breath as Rabelais, Cervantes, Sterne and Joyce, or Kant, Nietzsche,
> Wittgenstein and Jung without getting driven from the campus.
> 
> best
> 
> ----------
> >From: Muchasmasgracias at cs.com
> >To: fqmorris at hotmail.com, pynchon-l at waste.org
> >Subject: Re: The Gnostic Pynchon
> >Date: Fri, Jun 23, 2000, 4:11 PM
> >