ATD: ad: Pynchon excerpt from new novel

[Rcfchess at aol.com]

In a message dated 08/08/2006 9:41:18 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
dedalus204 at comcast.net writes:

The  out-of-context passage in question may not be the most beautiful thing  
he's written, nor may it necessarily be his best humor, satire, social  
commentary, etc.  But to the everyday reader (as opposed to the  die-hards 
like us) it offers a representative "taste" of the Pynchon  style, which is 
merely part of the marketing strategy.

That "taste"  comes out in the wackiness of the ta-dum "osteopath/evangelist" 
gag, the  historicism of the backdrop, even the names and slapstick nature of 
the  "back" action.  For a reader who has heard of this Thomas Pynchon but  
never read his books, this passage functions as a sample from the deli  while 
you're waiting in line for pastrami.

I don't believe there  are malicious motives to choosing this particular 
passage.  Someone  earlier referred to it as appealing to a "least common 
denominator" of  reader.  The passage is a snippet of what we all know 
Pynchon can  sustain for much longer and do way better, but it's a quick 
glimpse at his  style for perhaps enticing those who are newbies to P.


As the "someone" mentioned above, when I was talking about the "least  common 
denominator" I wasn't meaning it in an insulting way, but merely trying  to 
get across that the particular passage selected was a "folksy" bit, not one  
aimed at literary cognoscenti. As such, I believe it was chosen in order to  
appeal to those relatively unfamiliar with TRP rather than his afficionados. In  
effect, I think I'm substantially agreeing with what dedalus is saying,  above.
 
RF
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