SLSL "TSR" "what I dislike about my writing "

[John Bailey]

That's a good interpretation. I'll go with that. It certainly bears out with 
reference to the sorts of authors whom Pynchon seems to admire but who bear 
no stylistic connection to his writing. It would be interesting if he, one 
day, wrote something which gave a clue as to why he gravitates towards the 
complexity you mention in his own writing, what it is that personally drives 
it (when he certainly doesn't see it as the only valuable form of 
narrative). I'm not expecting this sort of analysis any time soon, of 
course.


>From: Elainemmbell at aol.com
>To: pynchonoid at pynchonoid.org, pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: Re: SLSL  "TSR" "what I dislike about my writing "
>Date: Tue, 3 Dec 2002 20:36:36 EST
>
>I've been thinking about the difference between densely populous/concept
>heavy writers and narrow populace/narrative heavy writers quite a bit 
>lately,
>especially as I struggled with my own (densely populous/concept heavy)
>issues.
>
>Speaking perhaps profanely merely from my own struggles, here's my
>interpretation of TP's "overlay" issues:  what he perceives in his early
>fiction to be an "overlay" feels false to him in mature reading, an add-on,
>an artifice.  Though you are absolutely right that he never (yet) has lost
>the overlay, he may believe it to be more integral and fitting to the later
>works, and not nearly so obvious or artificial.  By my reading, he's right.
>
>This is a writer who is at his best when he works within his proper metier 
>of
>complex language, multiple levels of cultural reference, and varying 
>degrees
>of intellectual honesty and sophistry.  Realizing, somehwere along the 
>line,
>that he woudl not ever be writing like Camus or Wharton or Francois Sagan, 
>he
>accepted his own style and learned to fly with it out to the GR heights and
>beyond.  This is not a style that comes off particularly well in immature
>efforts because it feels (even to the author) somehow mannered and phony.
>With time, the author realizes this style IS honest and he wields it with
>more assurance and ease.
>
>Elaine M.M. Bell, Writer
>(860) 523-9225


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