COL 49 Chapter 4 Starters

[calbert at hslboxmaster.com]

>What is Pynchon doing with
> all the texts within texts and no real sources elements? (I.e.,
> CT-->Jacobean Revenge Plays--> Plays of Ford, Webster, Fourneur, and
> Wharfinger; posthorn watermarks-->stamps-->POTSMARK?) Talk amongst
> yourselvesŠ

Has anyone asked if P really went to the original plays as sources 
for CT? I'm guessing that he relied on Eliot and plot summaries, 
there being no real need to wade through all that 17th century 
diction.......It is presented already as a synopsis told in a tone 
mixing "street legend" and Roadrunner/Coyote, and borrows very 
heavily DIRECTLY from Seneca (as did the RT's).....RT's did 
introduce the use of "free verse" on the English stage - so there 
was no need to mimic any real archaic form like the "fourteener", 
abandoned by Kyd as too stilted for the genre.

love,
cfa