re Re: MDMD Ch. 72 Dixon's act of nonviolence

[Doug Millison]

jbor:
"claiming
that you're right and everyone else is wrong."

Actually, I don't think I've made any such claim and, indeed, I wonder if
it's really fruitful to introduce that sort of judgment into a literary
discussion. Reading is hardly an exact science, interpretation hardly
something that can be judge like a maths quiz. Certainly you're entitled to
read Pynchon however you like, and if you feel the need to add elements
that you think Pynchon has left out of the text in order to support your
interpretations, please, be my guest.  Pynchon would seem to anticipate
just that sort of thing, doesn't he, it all goes into the fabulous tapestry
of History, all these threads necessary to illuminate the road we travel
together through life and connect us back to where we've been.

 jbor:
"I've said several posts ago that I'm happy
to agree to disagree with you."

And I'm just as pleased as punch to discuss this all with you, too -- I
would think you'd see that, in taking seriously even your wildest
fabrications and reversals of what Pynchon has written and answering them
point by point, I'm taking you seriously, carrying on a conversation you
don't show any signs of abandoning either. But if you feel differently
about it, we might as well stop now, I mean, I'd hate for you to persist in
an activity you find unpleasant just for my sake.  I'm just whiling away
time here while I wait to hear from my editor on the next steps for this
mass of web page copy I'm writing this afternoon, I can find something else
to do, I'm sure of it.

jbor:
"If you aren't merely attempting to flamebait people and disrupt
the read then I do apologise, "

I accept your aplogy, jbor, thanks.  Why you want to dredge up all those
old flame wars is beyond me, but I'll pass on the reprise you seem to
desire. Let's keep it civil this time, what do you say?

Now, I'd much rather hear what Dave Monroe has to say about Ch. 40 and Ch.
41, I agree there are huge gaps in the notes and commentary proposed for
the discussion of those chapters so far.