Surrealism And Pynchon

[Brent Edwards]

So I learned my lesson about typing before checking out URL's.

I realized upon first reading that Keith's intent was satiric, however it
wasn't until I actually followed the link and scrolled to the bottom of the
page that I realized just how satiric it was.

Speaking as a relative outsider on the p-list however, I must say that a
_lot_ of what I've seen here about the SL intro in the past week hasn't
looked all that much different from nonsense Keith linked to. As I believe I
recall someone else said early on in the discussion, Pynchon hadn't
published a word in almost a dozen years at the time of SL's appearance. One
has to wonder if the creation of SL wasn't more about appeasing publishers
or perhaps just plain paying some bills than it was about art.

So he dusts off some 25 year old short stories and bangs out a
self-depreciating, slightly embarrassed introduction. Considering who he was
and where his career was in 1984 (writer of one of the greatest, most
controversial post-war American novels who had then vanished for 11+ years),
I don't find anything surprising or especially enlightening there at all.

And in any event, even if we were able to ascertain exactly what Pynchon's
politics were then and/or are now, would that knowledge really make a
difference in how we read his fiction?

I'm just asking...

Regards,

Brent Edwards



> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org]On
> Behalf Of s~Z
> Sent: Sunday, November 10, 2002 8:06 PM
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Subject: Re: Surrealism And Pynchon
>
>
> >>>Keith, is this article available in English?<<<
>
> www.primititootaa.com/ursonate/ursonatetext.html
>
>