NPPF -- no need to relate to Pynchon....?

[The Great Quail]

Tim and I continue our respectful disagreement,

> As such, when it's time to "rejuvenate the
> spirit" by reading something other than Pynchon,

I believe I wrote, "renew our vitality." ;) Maybe if Pynchon gets off his
ass and publishes that Hibbert novel, we'll be set!

 > but unless it somehow
> gets looped back to why ALL of us are here on the Pynchon list to begin
> with, then this group reading of a Nabokov novel could have -- and perhaps
> should have -- taken place elsewhere.

I confess, I do see your point. I have pondered myself whether there
shouldn't be a Pynchon para-List, where P-Listers can congregate to do group
readings of Nabokov, Gaddis, DeLillo, etc. The problem with that is, it
might draw away a lot of juice from the main List.... But still, it's
certainly a valid suggestion and even a possible solution, though I prefer a
larger, perhaps more chaotic, perhaps more vital, List....

> However, pynchonoid is correct when *reminding us* that the PF read was
> marketed as a reading that would illuminate our understanding of Pynchon.

Well, I find it hard to take Doug seriously, as his "reminders" are so
willfully strident and designed only to attract attention to himself and
deflate something thriving beyond his control. After all, no one on the list
(except for Sloth) posts more off-topic posts than Doug, though like a List
Kinbote, he tries his hardest to pretend his personal screeds are
P-related....

And not everyone "marketed" the discussion like that. Despite Doug's recent
"rebuttal" of my post, I certainly made no such claims, for the very reasons
I have already articulated. Given the ad hominem attacks and crazy off-topic
posting around here, it seems silly to criticize an actual attempt to do
something intellectual and worthwhile. I agree, this *is* the Pynchon List,
but I see it as a group of people united by a love of Pynchon, rather than a
List *solely* devoted to the discussion of Pynchon. (Ironically, as the
N-List is set up.) I realize that you, and many others, disagree, and I
appreciate that we can discuss the nature of the List without rancor.

> Davemarc posted a list of suggested critical angles to help us obtain that
> goal. 

And I respectfully decline Dave's suggestion. The idea of posting a series
of restricted essays for rational debate reminds me too much of a college
class. I prefer a noisy pub. I also find it interesting that more folks seem
to praise Dave's suggestion than actually follow it!

>And since we
> are still in the preliminary stages of discussing PF, I am hopeful that "an
> examination of Nabokov's influences on Pynchon through a reading of Pale
> Fire" (hence, "NPPF") will become the modus operandi for the duration of the
> discussion.

I hope it will emerge as a topic, but to consider that *the* modus operandi
is to clip the waxwings of a potentially energetic and free-ranging
discussion. I for one would have no interest in such a focused reading.

Again, respectfully,

--Quail