ATD: ad: Pynchon excerpt from new novel

[Paul Mackin]

On Aug 8, 2006, at 4:48 PM, MalignD at aol.com wrote:

> << 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. >>
>
> this and what preceded it are plausible enough; but the other  
> troubling point
> is that, whatever one might think marketing-wise, there's the thing  
> itself.
> It--one must assume and to give it its best shot--is supposed to be  
> humorous.
> Anybody laugh when they read it?
>
>
I just reread the segment and found myself chuckling at several bits  
of pynchonian phrasing

freshly credentialled from the American School of  Osteopathy

a space Jimmy and Willis found themselves alone in

had it  half way up to working level

"Obliged" Jimmy guessed

The overall situation of the  passage is only THEORETICALLY  funny.  
One can see some humor intellectually but ....

Pynchon's  comedic gift  is not in "hilarious" set pieces like, say,  
the banana breakfast, but his ability at turn-of-phase in essentially  
ordinary situations. In this he is sublime. (slight  exaggeration but  
this is the  p-list)

This is only a  small part of  it,  but true enough for purposes of  
the present discussion.