SLSL subjective/objective

[Don Corathers]

Doug:

> Consider the case at hand.  At one point TRP thought
> these stories were worth publishing as is.  Now (1984,
> when he writes the Intro), he considers rewriting
> them, or, lacking that, pointing out what he now
> considers flaws.  Same stories, one observer, two
> different judgements = objectivity?
>
>

Excuse me, but this is utterly specious. At the risk of stating the obvious:
what changed was not only the observer's judgment, but the observer (and
writer), too.

It would probably be more accurate to say that at one point Pynchon thought
the stories were as good as he could make them, and was happy to see them
published. In 1984, seasoned and mature, he read them in the light of what
he then knew about craft and realized he could improve them. It is likely
that both of those judgments were as objective as it is possible for a
writer to be about his own work.

DC