SLSL Rain: A Question of Dialogue

[Tim Strzechowski]

I had hoped to bring this up in the midst of a general discussion of "The Small Rain," but as we (possibly) begin our discussion of this story, I wonder:

Why does Pynchon often allow several characters to speak their dialogue within the same paragraph?

Perhaps it's a moot point, but it's one of the first things I noticed about this story.  In prose fiction, when a new character speaks an author typically distinguishes this by starting a new paragraph.  Yet, repeatedly throughout the story Pynchon doesn't make that (visual?) distinction.

Is this the mark of inexperience?  I doubt it, considering that an "error" would have been caught by editors somewhere in the publication of the collection, if not back when the story was originally published.

Assuming it's not a mistake, does this "innovation" affect the way we perceive the dialogue?  The way we perceive the characters within a paragraph of dialogue?

Does it somehow "connect" the characters in ways that cannot be done via the traditional dialogue method?

Does this dialogue method in any way foreshadow the innovations in "voice" he will develop in his later fictions?




A few questions to mull over Thursday's roast beast ...

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