V.V. (13) "And they heard a Bondel one night ... " 277.17

[jbor]

----------
>From: Doug Millison <DMillison at ftmg.net>


>  at
> least one P-lister and respected Pynchon critic (no, "jbor", not Hollander,
> but another Pynchon Notes contributor)

Perhaps you might refrain from the caustic in your references to me (you,
see "Doug", that's what adults in the real world mean by "hypocrisy".)

> has suggested the SL intro might be
> something of a put-on,

This has been mentioned before. If it disagrees with the barrow you're
trying to sell, then it's a "put-on" (the _SL_ intro), or he's lying (the
"Tinasky" disclaimer), or it's "modesty" (the Hirsch letter). Yeah right.

> which may in fact be the case when it is read against
> the sentiments Pynchon expressed in letters from the early '60s to his
> literary agent in which he staked out some major literary ambitions for his
> works in progress at that time

Perhaps he was lying or putting-on or being modest in these letters. By the
way, where is the "corroboration" for this? Also, it seems odd that you
would denounce Siegel's 1977 biographical piece out of hand as
"uncorroborated assertion", and then valorise Hollander's 1978 Cornell
Alumni semi-biographical piece (which draws heavily on Siegel's article, by
the way), when the former actually knew Pynchon over several years and the
latter didn't. Let alone the different treatment you reserved for the one
(legitimate correspondent) and the other (anonymous troll) on-list,
_Lineland_ notwithstanding.

> "jbor" has, on the many occasions in his repeated references to the Hirsch
> letter, seemed to want to attribute some sort of insensitivity to the Herero
> plight on the part of Pynchon

I beg your pardon? What "insensitivity"? Quite the reverse, in fact.

>  a rhetorical move that I think is quite
> destructive to the spirit of social justice that pervades Pynchon's work,

I beg your pardon? In fact it *confirms* the "spirit of social justice ... "

> and which, I also believe, represents a serious misreading of Pynchon's
> letter.

Perhaps you might have the courtesy of elaborating on this "uncorrobated
assertion"?

> Coming from a P-list participant who has consistently sought to
> exculpate the perpetrators of the genocides that Pynchon has so vividly
> portrayed -- in Africa, in Europe during WWII --

Weissmann is a fictional character, Doug. You're getting all muddled in your
caustic froth and splutter there.

> it's not surprising, but it
> certainly stands on its head the political sympathies

I can just see you now, banging Larry's and Curly's heads together and
setting off on a new crusade ...

>  that stand out quite
>  clearly in Pynchon's work, and have been noted as such by countless critics.

... countless and uncounted ...

> Always room for a contrarian, I suppose.

Oh you ...

best