VV(13) - Boyz to Men

[jbor]

Good questions and good notes so far David, thanks. I'm not sure that 
Stencil is consciously being "romantic". I think that part of the difficulty
in interpretation of these stories within stories (within stories ... )
derives from the fact that Stencil always attempts to remain totally
objective. He seems throughly dispassionate -- even to the point of
referring to himself in the third person, so this is a deliberate stroke on
Pynchon's part I think -- and so never appears to venture a personal
judgement or opinion on what he hears or retells. Of course, any retelling
is selective, the teller affects the message or "moral" of the tale, whether
consciously or not, and this is the paradox which Eigenvalue brings up with
his "one interruption" after Godolphin sings his song of youthful love to
that "catchy, rather syncopated foxtrot tune" at 249.

I would suggest that (one of) the message(s) being conveyed by Pynchon here
is that whatever deeper meanings are conveyed in or by these stories are
"our" meanings (as they are also, respectively, Foppl's, Vera's,
Godolphin's, Mondaugen's, Weissmann's, Stencil's etc), and not those of
"history" nor, conclusively, of the "text".

best


----------
>From: "David Morris" <fqmorris at hotmail.com>


> Evan Godolphin and Kurt Mondaugen are described as cheurbesque.  But both
> their stories show them weathering a challenge.  They face the world that
> is, and determine to change their respective naive courses.
>
> Question 1:  Is this all the romantic wishful story-telling of Stencil?
> Question 2:  Can we get past this surface question to a deeper meaning
> conveyed beyond these narational questions?