Thank Goodness

[Cyrus]

tyro tortoise wrote:

> If Pynchon is a literary genius why can't he write an
> essay that communicates? While speaking of
> communication, it seems that Pynchon has forgotten
> that communicating clearly with others is the ultimate
> goal of composition. The Introduction is poorly
> written. 


Forgive me; I can’t see any connection between being a literary genius 
and writing good essays. I don’t expect a noveslist to write good 
essays. And, anyway, I don’t expect a novelist to write essays the same 
way he does his novels. That said, I think Pynchon chooses to write his 
essays in a more conversational, every-day tone, which, of course, might 
seem like bad writing, but in fact isn’t. A reason might be that, in 
writing an essay, all you have to do is convey, as you also said, a 
point of view clearly and effectively (which I still think he does, with 
a personal twist, of course). In writing a novel, you have to do a lot 
more. A good essayist may at best be a great philosophical mind, but a 
literary genius is another thing.

Cyrus