Pynchon's intro to Been Down So Long

[Paul Nightingale]

To insist on the benefit of hindsight would be to promote himself as a one
who knows better now, as a reliable narrator. The first thing that strikes
me about this intro is that it reads like a story itself (not, for example,
the case with the Slow Learner intro). P and F are characters in this
fiction, and P is saying, whatever they were like then we'll never know now.
This of course is a pretty routine postmodernist take on history/the past
(although those who still think M&D is 'about' the C18th are apt to be
confused).

What P says here is necessarily qualified: "So at least ran the rumor the
next day ..." is obvious, but what about F's "protective field"? Or the
dance "whose authenticity I can't confirm"? Or: "I remember giving him a lot
of free advice, though I've forgotten what it was exactly"? To
sentimentalise would be to leave out these admittedly minor caveats. And
when he does offer a personal recollection that claims to be insightful, he
reminds us that it might be a "retro-fantasy". I don't see a "rosy glow".