Pynchon mention

[Terrance]

Malignd wrote:
> 
> << For some reason in my mind Tom & Huck never became
> such American heroes as Nat Bumppo and Chingachgook.>>
> 
> Twain's review of the Fenimore Cooper books is well
> worth reading, a leveling dismissal of Cooper's lack
> of knowledge of virtually everything he writes about.

Yes. And Twain is a pretty good critic of Cooper. It's pretty clear what
he would make of Pynchon's bad  case of bad ear. 

Here's Twain in the Explanatory Note to HF: 
"I make this explanation for the reason that without it many readers
would suppose
that all these characters were talking alike and not succeeding." 



Twain is not only funny, he's very funny and witty and a brilliant story
teller. I don't care if you put him ahead of Irving but don't tell me a
teen that reads HF can't dig it no mo. That total hog-wash. I have
never, in all my years teaching teens, found a single one that would
rather read Henry James.  E has a very unusual daughter. She reads 1984
and she prefers James to Twain. 

HF grabs any teen  right off the bat. First off, it's a tale told by a
teen. Second, he's a rebellious teen. Third, his language, while it
ain't hip-hop BK (although he does use the N word nearly as often as
teens do today) is teen language. He talks about ghosts, witches,
superstitions, pranks, Death. 

Well, I'll save it for TSI. But if you ain't read it recently, maybe
it's worth a second read? James is deeeeeeeep, but Twain it oh so fun. 

Anyway, TRP doesn't get to James, as far as I know, until GR. If
Lowlands and VL are Irving Rip-offs, "the Secret Integration" (the only
decent short story Pynchon ever wrote as far as I know, is a Twain
rip-off--  HF and TS.