Some Remarks of a new Subscriber.

[Michel Ryckx]

Since this is the very first time I took the effort in subscribing to an Internet list (which makes me feel really modern), I have been reading some May month messages.  I was struck.  Do not take yourselves (and some theories) too seriously.  Just enjoy the reading.  Pynchon is, after all, a very funny author.

The theories of post-whatever may apply or not (and I've always had very strong doubts about their value; since Hegel became popular in the 1930s in France, that dark Prussian ambitious angel has caused a lot of harm to French philosophy), I have the impression that some of your discussions seem to stress the importance of the methods used to explain.  If those methods do not clarify a text, then put them in a dustbin.  But the Priests of Academe won again.

Try history. To me, as a European, Pynchon tries to bring to life the essence of being an American.  And the American reality is one of paradoxes.  The reason for this is quite clear: since this Rotten Republic has become an independent conglomerate of states, at the very heart of its existence lies the discrepancy between what is said and what is done.  This is, of course, reflected in American literature: not being able to cope with life as it is.  Everyone of you is able to list numerous heroes, beginning with Rip Van Winkle, who cannot get used to reality.  And perhaps mr. Pynchon is one of the best in showing this.

On the other hand, he is most un-American in his sense of history (the lacking of this sense explains how non-historical methods have grown that popular in certain intellectual circles).  Talking of the Fashoda incident, the Namibian population, rocket launches and mocking Elisabethan plays is almost European, or Asian for that matter.  And history is very, very vivid.

If I may give you a personal example: since my childhood I've been hearing stories about World War II (I even asked once how many wars my mother had lived through, and if they used swords -which made her very angry).  Yes, one could live with the German occupation -though it was difficult of course- but the real horror came when the war ended: V1's (one hit my school) and V2's.  Every citizen in this town (Antwerp, Belgium) can still point you out the movie theatre that was hit by the first V2, causing over 350 dead injuries.  And it was the panic that was the worst, the panic and not being able to foresee what was going to happen.

GR was the first novel by mr. Pynchon I ever read.  I was hit from the first phrase on.

I sincerely hope I didn't commit too many grammatical errors.

Michel Ryckx.