SLSL 'Low-lands': racist, sexist and fascist talk

[Malignd]

I wish I had been able to follow this thread more
closely.

I know that Pynchon himself raised the issue of
attitude and voice in the Intro, but isn't something
being grossly simplified and misunderstood when a
writer is held accountable for the attitudes of
created characters in a work of fiction (including, as
a character, the assumed voice of a third-person
narrator)?  

The writer may be held properly accountable for the
esthetic success of his story; criticism of his
characters (and their attitudes) addressed at whether
they are effectively created and portrayed:  if one's
character is racist or sexist, is he believably so. 
Whatever misgivings Pynchon may have about the
characters he created, those misgivings need not, nor
should they, color aonyone else's reading.  They are
interesting re Pynchon, but are wholly external to the
story.

(If, in coming in late, I've missed points covered and
clarified earlier, ignore all this.  (Or ignore it for
your own reasons.))

Malignd



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