newbie alert

[calbert at hslboxmaster.com]

> << The p-list can be divided into two groups--those who consider GR a
> tedious chore that's good for you, sort of like dental floss for the
> mind ...>>



> Are there truly people on this list who feel that way?

Steve accurately describes the sensation I get whenever I eyeball 
Decline of the West.........I see GR as hard work, at times  tripping 
the tedium threshold, but uniquely rewarding.....But if I want to 
make a P fan for life - I don't think I would risk going there first. The 
joys it evokes are not absent in COL49 or V, only the depth of the 
detail.....

and for the purposes of illustrating basic elements of the Pynchon 
cosmology (to me  a more fascinating topic than the minutiae 
regarding IG Farben) I think the "smaller" works lead the uninitiated 
to the same waters.

And GR does yield laughs.......Spengler heap sharp, but not nearly 
as funny......

So, do I lay off the hunt for FRANKS WORLD, in favor of picking up 
my dad's copy of PALE FIRE?

love,
cfa

love,
cfa

> GR can be rough sledding the first time through, true enough, but
> still with many rewards; it's not (after all) Finnegans Wake.  Second
> and third time--and more, I suppose--purse pleasure.  I would be
> surprised to find people rereading with no more than a sense of duty
> or mental hygiene.
>