SLSL Intro, incl., "As Nearly as I Can Remember"

[Michel Ryckx]

  Nice post, but I cannot agree with your conclusion:

Malign:

>[snip]
>
>I think, then, it is far more likely that Pynchon is evaluating candidly.
>
. . . when one considers his position in the literary landscape: he 
already has earned his place, whatever his next prose.  He, therefore, 
can afford to be, what's the word, self-deprecating, which in this case, 
may be a code-word for irony.

Of course I cannot read mr. Pynchon's mind.  But he must have been aware 
of the fact that whatever he would write in this introduction, some'd 
take a closer look.  Irony cannot be ruled out.

Introducing 'Slow Learner' was, anyway, not much work to earn a quick buck.

Kind regards,

Michel.