VLVL Prairie and DL

[Terrance]

Ghetta Life wrote:
> 
> >From: Terrance <lycidas2 at earthlink.net>
> >
> >Well, there is nothing wrong a teenager having a job at a pizza place or in
> >a Mall. Nothing wrong with kids helping out on the family farm. If my
> >neighbor decides to call his kid Moon Iridescence Rising Over Nuristan (we
> >call him Miron) that's not my business. But in Vineland, having a job in
> >the Mall is not like having a job in the Mall in your typical American town
> >or city. In Lecture for Good Readers and Writers Nabokov talks about
> >dealing with the fictional world that the artist created. That's all I'm
> >trying to do here.  We have to see how it holds together first.
> 
> Right.  I understand your meaning.  But I guess if in Pynchon's VL fictional
> world there is a difference, he's not made much of a case for it, not that I
> can see...  And I'm NOT a stickler for realism.  Not even close.

A stickler for realism: a reader who insists that the representation in
art or literature of objects, actions, or social conditions conform to
things as they actually are, without idealization or presentation in
abstract form.

Are there Thantatoids in your town or city? Ever see one stuck up in a
tree in his car? 
Ever been on a plane, and suddenly, another flying object captures the
plane you're riding in and .... some dude named Takeshi shows up with a
business card/amulet? Didn't think so. So we're not talking about a
"stickler's realism" here. 
 
I'm a bit of a stickler for a good story. 

Just read a bunch. Hemingway's Mocomber, Lawrence's White Stocking,
Invisible Man, today I'm teaching Ibsen's A Doll House. Damn good
stories. Everyone. VL? I don't think I'll teach it again. It's too
difficult and not worth the trouble.