COL49 _Courier's Tragedy_

[calbert at hslboxmaster.com]

Jbor:

> But don't forget that the precis (an important point I think MalignD
> noted, and I'm struck by the recuurence of the word "malign" in the
> novel) of 'The Courier's Tragedy' is parodic -- self-consciously so --
> in a way that Jacobean Revenge drama and 'The Evil Dead' are not.

I wonder if this doesn't in a paradoxical way establish a distance 
between Pynchon and the play, while at the same time, and in a 
similarly paradoxical fashion, suggesting that it may be historically 
"real".....

Overlooking the "material" problem with putting a five act drama 
into the story, the amount of effort required to generate that much 
free verse (as dense with allusion as the form is in this instance) 
would hardly seem worth it just for "effect". By relying on a precis, 
Pynchon can put the reader off "his scent"; now it simply appears 
that Pynchon is parodying a specific piece, with just enough 
textual material to keep it "arms length", and still credible.....


love,
cfa