pynchon-l-digest V2 #1612

[Judith Herault]

Thanks Doug Millison. The last thing we want to do is deny the richness
afforded by multiple interpretations. I think what M&D's Cherrycoke says
about history applies well to using multiple critical treatments to explore
Pynchon's work:  "...not a chain of single Links, for one broken link could
lose us All,-rather, a great disorderly Tangle of Lines, long and short,
weak and strong, vanishing into the Mnemonick Deep, with only their
Destination in common." The pleasure of reading Pynchon lies in the
exploration of  each of those tangled lines and then the experiencing of how
that tangle interacts and is interrelated. I appreciate the
"marginalization" of interpretations. Focussing on individual
interpretations enables me to make new connections and, therefore, to
understand and to enrich my personal responses as I read.  Experience the
richness? Isn't that why we're all reading Pynchon?

From: Doug Millison <millison at online-journalist.com>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2001 1:34 PM
Subject: Re: pynchon-l-digest V2 #1612


> Mackin: "Why is it important to try to
> decide upon specific  socio-polico-historic  meanings in P's words? "
>
> Might as well ask, Why the consistent effort to marginalize
> interpretations that take Pynchon's "socio-polico-historic" content
> seriously?  Especially when this material makes up such a significant
> part of what Pynchon actually puts on the page for us to read?
> Disagree with such interpretations if you will, interpret Pynchon's
> works as you will, but why this persistent call for others to refrain
> from  interpreting the political and historical content of Pynchon's
> work?  This is just a conversation, after all, a group of people
> talking about Pynchon's novels, stories, essays -- all voices deserve
> to be heard, don't you think?  In the bigger picture (beyond
> Pynchon-L) of Pynchon criticism, interpreting the political and
> historical content of Pynchon's works is not at all marginal, it's a
> big part of what Pynchon scholars do, as a brief glance at the table
> of contents of  any issue of Pynchon Notes will show.  PN contains
> articles that approach and interpret Pynchon from other perspectives
> -- the editors take care to give us a spectrum that includes Charles
> Hollander, and I'm glad they don't take the attitude that certain
> lines of inquiry should be closed off or ignored -- and of course
> it's all welcome, Pynchon's work is rich enough to sustain many kinds
> of critical treatment.
> --
> d  o  u  g    m  i  l  l  i  s  o  n  <http://www.online-journalist.com>
>