Whither the P-List?

[mryc2903 at tiscali.be]

As Dave Monroe noted: "Keep the p in the p-list".

"je ne sais quoi de sinistre"

This is an expression mr. Pynchon used in 'Mortality and Mercy.'  14 years
later, he uses it again in the big one.

If there is one thing we can be certain of when taking a closer look at his
oeuvre, it is that he has been from the very beginning of his career consistent
in different ways. To pick a few: the way he names his characters & how that
functions in the text -remember Robert D. Newman's 'Understanding Pynchon'
who wrote that a main theme in mr. Pynchon's work is the very act of naming;
the use of antinomies, the ambiguities, the jokes and puns, the allusions;
the rituals (profane & sacred, and how they maybe call upon each other);
there is the plot, or its absence; the political influences; the ethical
questions - mr. Pynchon's is (for me that is) a moralist, . . .

His stylistical devices did not come out of nowhere when V. was published.
 How could they be described? How did they develop?  Where do they come from?
(an excellent occasion by the way for those on this list who want to discuss
mr. Nabokov's work).  Enough work for those who are interested in the theoretical
aspects of mr. Pynchon's work.

Kai asked to do an Adams reading.  This can easily pop up during a discussion
of the early work.  To read it on its own, is not a very good idea for it
focuses only on the cultural backgrounds of mr. Pynchon's work.

The Slow Learner Introduction -written by someone who is sure the reader
knows its author writes extremely well, and, knowing that, can talk (ironically-?)
condescendingly about his early stuff- could even be qualified as fiction:
as always in his work, what mr. Pynchon does not write is as important as
what he actually writes down.

Is the dish not more interesting than the recipe?  The recipe more interesting
than the ingredients?  We can have the dish on our plates, if we want to;
and then discuss the ingredients.

This is why I think we ought to start an SLSL.

Michel.