is Pynchon a recluse?

[Menschen U. Hupokrinesthai]

>From: Doug Millison This is a perennial topic here on Pynchon-L. My 
>observation is that even
>Pynchon scholars with the highest levels of devotion to the notion that the
>texts must stand on their own with no consideration of the author's
>biography, his known artistic influences, & etc., will seize on what we 
>know
>about the author in order to expand their understanding of him and his 
>work;

This is an observation or a prediction? Or both?




>the two activities are, obviously (obvious because in fact we see the two
>activities operating in tandem in the actual practice of Pynchon 
>criticism),
>not mutually exclusive.

There are critics that sit down with the book and
write a response to it. They don't read criticism,
biography, even the author's prose. Somwe don't
even read another fiction by the author under study.
They simply read the book and write a reply. Or they
read the book with another book by another author, say
reading GR with Weber in hand or Spengler. Still others
read a book by the author with a theoretical approach,
say, a Freudian reading of Hamlet. So the two can be
mutually exclusive, it's just that one is not better
or the only way or the best way or the approach that
is most in line with the author's text. Having said that,
obviously the postmodernist critic has certain tools that
are very useful when reading Pynchon, but of course,
these jigs are only refashioned ones and sharpened ones
that have been around for centuries and thse new
tools are slick but not automatic so in the wrong hands
the unskilled will only cut themselves while
making toothpicks from mighty red woods.
toothpick



Watch the feeding frenzy that ensues when his
>correspondence, notebooks, manuscripts, and such become available for 
>study.

A good prediction I think.



>
> >The author is the person behind the work. And the work, after its
> >publication, is autonomous and should be treated that way.
>

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