pynchon-l-digest V2 #1755

Doug Millison millison at online-journalist.com
Sun Apr 8 21:27:26 CDT 2001


It's entirely possible (and hardly controversial to suggest or 
entertain the notion) that Pynchon, a textual game-player if there 
ever was one, wrote some or all of the "Wanda" letters in order to 
say things that he wouldn't publish under his own name, and then deny 
it--  the way, you might say, that "rj" uses his "David Morris" 
mouthpiece to drop the occasional obscenity into the discussion, and, 
perhaps, further muddies the waters with "slothrop666" and various 
other pseudonyms that pop up now and again spewing counterpoint from 
which "rj" or "jbor" (or whatever pseudonyms he's using) can distance 
him/herself, and deny.... At any rate, it's pretty funny to read 
"rj/jbor/DavidMorris/fill-in-the-blank" lecturing others about being 
frank, polite, and other positive qualities that lie at the opposite 
end of the spectrum from the qualities that he/she demonstrates.

All the more reason to thank Dave Monroe for continuing to make the 
effort to discuss V. and other Pynchon texts in a friendly, collegial 
way that serves to advance a conversation, and remind the rest of us 
of the way it often used to be here on Pynchon-L, once upon a time. 
Those pointers and  excerpts from the critical literature also 
represent a valuable contribution.

-- 
d  o  u  g    m  i  l  l  i  s  o  n  <http://www.online-journalist.com>



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