V.V.(2) Re: Sphere and Monk
Don Corathers
crawdad at one.net
Sun Oct 29 20:49:38 CST 2000
All good questions. But:
--It is an alto carved from ivory -- and excuse me for interrupting myself, but has anybody ever heard of such a thing? -- which is suggestive of piano keys, yes-no?
--Whatever McClintic is about, and the first syllable does sound a little bit like Monk when you say it carelessly, but whatever that's about, the Sphere business is pretty persuasive.
Seems likely that Pynchon might have wanted to play homage to Monk without being too obvious about it. Presenting the character as a sax player and taking the trouble to say there was no piano in the group can be seen as halfhearted deflections.
It's just too bad that accepting M.S. as a character based on Monk, or at least honoring Monk, involves validating an assertion made by Jules Seigel.
Don
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From: s~Z[SMTP:keith at pfmentum.com]
Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2000 9:17 PM
To: pynchon-l-digest at waste.org
Subject: V.V.(2) Re: Sphere and Monk
Why is the character playing a sax rather than a piano? There's not even a
piano in the ensemble, which points more in the direction of Ornette
Coleman. And what is the significance of the name McClintic?
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