Stop The Madness! (was pynchon-l-digest V2 #4549)

[Meg Larson]

I've sent a post that may need to cleared by ACHTUNG before hitting yer 
inboxes--it's a long one--so just hang on foax.
M.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carvill John" <johncarvill at hotmail.com>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Saturday, October 29, 2005 5:10 AM
Subject: Stop The Madness! (was pynchon-l-digest V2 #4549)


> Wow. Go out Friday night and wake up with a p-list hangover!
>
> This is DEFINITELY not what I envisaged when I suggested a GR group read. 
> Imagine my embarrassment at having recommended the p-ilst to a few 
> friends, and even a couple of guys I don't actually know but knew to be 
> Pynchon fans.
>
> There does seem to be a lot of bitching, bickering, and grinding of axes. 
> Some people do have very firm ideas about this or that and brook no 
> reasonable argument in defending them.
>
> What I had in mind was not a lot of people stating their position then 
> attacking anyone who disagrees. I also didn't want to read a lot of 
> name-calling and so on. If I want unpleasantness I can watch the news on 
> tv or whatever.
>
> I wanted to read through GR one more time, and have some sort of 
> DISCUSSION about it, well no not some sort of discussion, specifically I 
> wanted a reasonably mature, but in any case POLITE discussion.
>
> I also think we have made a mistake in running off so chaotically. We 
> should draw up a schedule and appoint hosts. A host for a given section 
> oughtn't feel obliged to come up with any stunning new insights or anyting 
> like that, he/she can just get the ball rolling, throw up a few points for 
> discussion, whatever. And of course the rest of us can still talk about 
> anything we want, but it'd be nice if we did cohere at least to some 
> extent, around the points/questions set out by the host for that section.
>
> Either way, I suggest we all determine to drop all the virtiol, draw a 
> line under the bickering, and proceed in a manner more befitting a 
> literary group. Would people behave in this way at a real-life book club 
> discussion? I don't think so.
>
> I think it would be a great pity to miss this opportunity to do the GR 
> read. I always look forward to the p-list digests arriving in my inbox, 
> and it's great to have this renewed incidence of Pynchon related posts. If 
> we could just change the tone a wee bit, and get some sort of structure 
> into it, we can make it a worthwhile and entertaining experience for us 
> all. Something to keep us all going until the next Pynchon book comes out.
>
> Cheers
>
> JC
>
>
>
> -- 
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> 

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