Gaddis and Pynchon

[s~Z]

At 10:25 AM -0700 8/22/02, s~Z wrote:
>>>>Reading Pynchon after GR seems to resemble, for some
>readers,  chasing that first ecstatic peak of many a
>youthful adventure, ever-elusive...the lesson may be,
>move on.<<<
>
>What kind of person needs the lesson to move on and why? What does the
>phrase 'move on' mean here?

>>>It means whatever you want it to mean, Keith.  You're the reader (or
"writer", some theorists might say).<<<

Okay. here's how I read it:

Context: Posts from at least two p-listers saying they didn't care for M&D,
especially after reading the magnificent GR.

In light of that context, I interpreted the 'some readers' to be those you
are responding to, and that the reason 'those people' don't like Pynchon's
extra-GR novels as much is because they are looking for something they found
in GR (which you categorize as an 'ecstatic peak/youthful adventure.)'  Then
the implication is that there is a lesson for those people, which if they
would learn it, would result in them perhaps elevating their opinions of
M&D. This lesson is that they 'move on,' i.e., quit chasing the ecstasy of
youthful adventure and judge a work on its own merits vs. comparing it to
something else by the author.

Thus, the whole point, rather than being a response which expressed your
opinions about M&D and why it stands on its own for you, is a description of
other people and their motives or attitudes that resulted in their opinions.