SLSL Intro "As Nearly as I Can Remember"

[Paolo Cavallo]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Monroe" <davidmmonroe at yahoo.com>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Friday, November 01, 2002 9:20 AM
Subject: SLSL Intro "As Nearly as I Can Remember"


> ... the fifth, 'The Secret
> Integration' (1964), is more of a journeyman than an
> apprentice effort." (SL, "Intro," p. 3)
>
> Main Entry: ap·pren·tice
>
> Main Entry: jour·ney·man

With the obvious reference to Goethe's "Lehrjahre" and
"Wanderjahre" of Wilhelm Meister, "years of learning"
and "years of journeying", I wonder if Pynchon here
points to Goethe as a model novelist. I have not been
reading Goethe for many years now, but I recall thinking
of his narrative style as a true choral one. In other
words: a style that allows every voice and every character
to speak of its own, giving out as much truth about
(human) nature as it has to share.
Just a thought.

Paolo Cavallo

P.S. I apologize for the poor quality of my English
prose. I'm sure you can understand.