Pynchon reclusive? / GRGR 1,6

[Michael Bailey]

Otto cited:
(re a connection between postmodern novelists and terrorists)
>These are the pronouncements of protagonist Bill Gray, a famously
reclusive and >paranoid writer (think Thomas Pynchon)

I don't think of Pynchon as paranoid, or even as necessarily
reclusive. I had a very strong thought while driving to Wal-Mart the
other day (my wife loves that place - I prefer Costco) - the way
Pynchon minimizes the Heisenberg uncertainty in his writing is to not
be a public figure.   I would probably actually have to be driving to
recap the way it made sense at that moment.

The way I picture him is as a friendly guy with a full complement of
normal relationships, and a 99th percentile preoccupation with
creating literature.  Plenty to fill a life.

Otto, the radio interview you cited
http://www.dradio.de/dlf/sendungen/feature/420888/
(seems to be very good, I've listened a couple times - my German ist
nicht sehr stark - once wrote a paper about Kafka's "Verwandlung" but
somehow managed to miss the part at the beginning where he turns into
a "Kaefig" - I wondered why everybody was so cruel to him) was right
next to another one http://www.dradio.de/dlf/sendungen/feature/420874/
featuring memories of Germany before and during the war, authored by a
lady named von Braun (probably no relation), which I'm also trying to
muddle thru.

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I gave Nathan of Gaza short shrift yesterday.  After all, this is
Pynchon, so some digging here will probably pay off.
I've got a folder full of links for him, and a day off work.
Also found a program called gnuplot at www.gnuplot.info (which,
weirdly, isn't GNU copyleft, but free to distribute, and forms the
plotting engine for a larger math program called Octave, which is GNU)
soon be making some Zipf graphs, mon

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1,6 -  My thesis going into GR has always been that it's the tale of
the development of Slothrop, and perhaps a suggestion of an ethos
reconciling the Preterite with the Elect.  I'm also beginning to see
an ecumenical Christian array of themes.

Roger and Jessica, then, are a phenomenon affecting Slothrop
(plotwise) and in that respect their rejection of War in favor of Love
(however flawed the implementation) will form a part of the
Counterforce a-building.

As a member of the Elect (in some respects) I deplore the falling-away
from duty that their love implies.  I think that one should keep
trying to save war's victims and that there isn't a logical place to
stop caring.  But Pynchon's prose (while not saying "go thou and do
likewise") engenders in me a sympathy for their plight.

As a member of the Preterite (in some respects) I sympathize with
their exhaustion and their wish for a better myth.  I deplore the way
that the Masters of War warp real human lives as if they were of no
value.  But Pynchon's prose encourages me to think about the limited
validity of how Roger and Jessica are acting.

--
"Acceptance, forgiveness, love - now that's a philosophy of life!"
-Woody Allen, as Broadway Danny Rose