some loose ends

jbor jbor at bigpond.com
Sat Jun 16 05:10:06 CDT 2001


1. Is Pynchon really a religious writer?

Doug has suggested that he is. I agree that Pynchon often writes *about*
religion, as he also writes about many other things (which makes his work
"encyclopedic", to quote Edward Mendelsohn), but I don't really think that
this is enough to qualify him as a "religious writer". It seems to me that
in writing *about* religion Pynchon is more often critiquing (and
deconstructing) religious systems and their institutional practices and
arrangements.


2. Pynchon unboxed

My second problem is with Doug's repeated (and often venomous) comments
about it being "so difficult to stuff him into this or that lit-crit box."
With these barbs he is referring to what is pretty much academic consensus
regarding Pynchon's status as a practitioner of (American) postmodern(ist)
fiction. Now, for starters, the whole deal with postmodernism is the
dismantling (deconstruction) of the traditional "boxes", litcrit or
otherwise. But more to the point, isn't Doug's wish to turn him into a
"religious writer" just such an attempt to stuff him into a "litcrit box"
anyway? So, what's the deal?


3. Civility in discourse

Finally, politely pointing out the inconsistency (or outright dishonesty) in
another's argument (in this instance Doug's total flip-flop regarding the
validity of the _Slow Learner_ 'Intro') is neither "flamebait" nor was it
the result of my inability to follow a "nuanced point". What my response was
is called *refutation*, a term it might be of some benefit for Mr Millison
to seek out in that dictionary of his.

best






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