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[Mark Wright AIA]

Howdy
I liked GR even more the second time through. 

The first time I felt rather lost, though I must report that I loved it
episode by episode. Towards the end it kind of 'went off' like a little
flashbulb in my skull and re-organized the contents of my cluttered
mind --- an interesting sensation I've never experienced with another
work of fiction. The data-set of the novel closely paralleled the data
accumulated through a lifetime of youthful interest in 'guy stuff' --
the history of WWII and its battles, its atrocities, its novel weapons
systems, the glamorized genres of espionage, escape and flying ace
stories, the murderous quotidian shittiness of life during wartime --
and the structure of the novel acted like a template against which
everything I already knew arranged itself and peeled off in a more
coherent form. I guess that my experience of humane illumination is
less available to readers who don't have a similar set of background
data waiting in place.

That said, the second time through you better see the pattern of the
whole thing and enjoy the long linkages across space and time, and how
every absurd detail reinforces the sneaky structure that fructifies the
chaos. I think you'll enjoy GR more if you give it a second chance.

Mark

--- Bekah <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> Fwiw, there is a world of difference between thinking that GR is
> "yukky" and not appreciating TRP. It's not that I don't like Pynchon.
> I don't like exactly one book out of 6, GR. Except for that one
> 800-page boo-boo, Pynchon is a genius.
> 
> I got totally involved, lived, loved and laughed, with Mason & Dixon.
> I'll read that one again any time; it's pure genius, imo.  And I
> loved Vineland with all it's para-noid, Prairie-Zoyd, mentality. I
> suspect that I would love anything by Pynchon ... except GR.
> 
> Not only that, but I read Pynchon without benefit of any male or
> literature class influence. I found Vineland on my own browsing a
> bookstore in about '96. I liked the cover and description, liked the
> first few pages so I bought it. And then I went on to read Mason &
> Dixon when it came out in paperback. I then bought several of TRP's
> other novels. GR was on my shelf for a long time before it got read.
> 
> GR might be better the second time around; it's hard to imagine. At
> this point I'd be curious to know, but if it wasn't significantly
> better by page 100 I'd skip it and get on with a second read of M&D
> or a third of Vineland.
> 
> Bekah
> 
> 
> 
> At 6:16 AM -0400 9/23/04, Will Layman wrote:
> >When Bekah -- a member of list even -- said that she found GR
> "yucky," she
> >made my point quite succinctly.
> >
> >The critical bib don't convince me.
> >
> >w
> >
> >On 9/23/04 6:05 AM, "Otto" <ottosell at yahoo.de> wrote:
> >
> >>>
> >>> I think any critical bibiliography will quickly serve to debunk
> the myth
> >>> that women don't/can't read Pynchon. Even early on there was a
> lot of
> >>> interest in Oedipa from female feminist readers.
> >>>
> >>
> >> CHAMBERS, JUDITH
> >> FEDIRKA, SARAH
> >> HAYLES, N. KATHERINE
> >> HITE, MOLLY
> >> HUME, KATHRYN
> >> IUDICELLO, KATHLEEN
> >> MADSEN, DEBORAH L.
> >> PEREZ-LLANTADA AURIA, CARMEN
> >> PRICE, VICTORIA H.
> >> SCHWAB, GABRIELE
> >> SMETAK, JACQUELINE
> >> STEINER, WENDY
> >> TYLEE, CLAIRE
> >> ZADWORNA-FJELLESTAD, DANUTA
> >> http://www.ottosell.de/pynchon/lit2.htm
> >>
> >> And a lot more here:
> >> http://www2.ham.muohio.edu/~krafftjm/pncumbib.html
> 
> 


		
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