VLVL Prairie

[Michael Joseph]

Jb, I understand that reviewers were quick to disparage his characters as
"cartoonish" when comparing Pynchon to so-called realist novelists, such
as Bellow, Updike, the Roths, JC Oates. Pynchon's characters, which
pointed to themselves as signs within a fictional work, and played with
the plasticity of the medium beyond the constraints of rigid traditional
mimesis, seemed deficient by readers who flat out misunderstood or else,
understanding, fought a rear guard action against him.

Twenty or more years later, in what sense is it now meaningful to
continue to mischaracterize Pynchon's characters? Instead of
throwing him into a set of conventions he attacked, why not focus on him
according to his own terms, or attempt to understand what those terms are?


Michael

> It's difficult to fathom the situation or take it all seriously because many
> of the characters are often cartoonish (Prairie is perhaps the exception),
> best
>