Pynchon's Interview

[John Bailey]

Was there ever a time when Gravity's Rainbow was a standard or even 
occasionally listed text on university syllabaloozas? That's not a 
rhetorical question, I actually want to know, and have no honest idea if it 
was. I'm pretty sure that around these parts this was never the case, but I 
could imagine a difference elsewhere (elsewhen). COL49 is still a staple in 
several courses here, but I agree with Terrance here in that it probably 
isn't the best introduction to Pynchon. Then again, none of the books or 
stories really prepare you for any of the others. I personally love VL as 
well, and this is the book I'd most routinely recommend to friends with 
little interest in 'difficult' fiction, but even if they dig VL, doesn't 
mean they'll want to go any further. Why should I even care?

Why should we care if Pynchon is taught at University?
Lots of things aren't taught at University.
Lots of things are.
Lots of things are learnt at University which aren't taught there (and vice 
versa).
Universities are often controlled to a large degree by money. It's the 
difference between a lecturer or tutor saying 'hey if you liked that, try 
reading Pynchon' and a registrar or whoever saying 'hey you can spend our 
budget on Pynchon.' I'm being facetious in part but I've got a point. I 
don't think the University is the best place to learn about Pynchon, is all. 
Not that it's a bad place, but I learnt more studying (say) Eliot and Weber 
and Kant than I would have studying Pynchon, because Pynchon draws upon 
these sources. Really, though, most of what one learns at University is how 
to learn (without being told what to learn).



>From: Terrance <lycidas2 at earthlink.net>
>Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 22:27:29 -0400

>I would read the Slow Learner stories with a class if I thought they
>were any good.
>I think "The Secret Integration" is worth teaching. Add to it that Watts
>essay, the Luddite essay, maybe a chapter or three from V., maybe
>Autobiography of Malcolm X, and a bits from GR  some history of African
>American Labor.   I think students can and ahve been reading CL49 for a
>long time. I don't happen to like it. I think V. is loads of fun and
>worth teaching.  GR may be read by the right group, but I don't think I
>have the right group.  That goes for M&D. But I think VL is a very cool
>novel and I think my students could read it and like it.   Its a great
>book. These days, I'm very interested in union labor in Pynchon's
>fiction, but also the 1960s.
>
>If you have the group to teach a Pynchon course and run the table, why
>not?
>
>"There is no such thing as educational value in the abstract."
>
>		--Dewey, Experience & Education



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