MDDM Ch. 70 Higher Assembly

[Doug Millison]

Mr T:
 
> If not from his novels, can you work backwards, that
> is, discover P's
> take on things (politics, war, spirituality, etc.)
> from his
> "interviews", letters, blurbs, essays? 

You don't have to work backwards, if P is expressing
his own opinions in these writings or articles, he's
telling the reader directly what he thinks.  Unless,
perhaps, as some readers have suggested, he's pulling
our legs.  I know at least one Pynchon scholar of
impeccable credentials who believes the Slow Learner
intro is a put-on.  I don't personally believe that,
but I don't rule it out entirely.



> 
> Or are you saying you are only interested in what
> these texts ( novels,
> essays, blurbs, letters) have to say and not what
> Pynchon has to say?

No, I'm not saying that at all.  I'm interested in P's
 fiction, non-fiction writings, and I'm interested in
what other people have to say about P and his work.

I think it's extremely difficult -- if not impossible
-- to say with any certainty what Pynchon the man
believes based on his fiction.  I think a reader can
form some opinions in this matter based on reading
Pynchon's fiction, but given the complexity of P's
fiction, I think it's difficult to be sure what the
man believes and what he's creating for a character or
narrator; and, demonstrably, sadly, it's impossible to
discuss on Pynchon-L what Pynchon believes based on
his fiction.

 


=====
<www.pynchonoid.blogspot.com>

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