AtD: Dada in there?

[jbor at bigpond.com]

The comments in the SL 'Intro' are interesting, and I agree that he 
cites Surrealism as an influence (p. 20). He sorta says that he "missed 
the main point of the movement" (Breton's Communism?) because he 
"became fascinated" with the visual impact of its art, the 
juxtaposition of unfamiliar elements thing (i.e, the aesthetic 
principles of Surrealist painting and performance). I think he's right: 
you can probably see more of the latter in V. than in GR, which I think 
is more conscientiously woven together. V. strikes me as a very strong 
influence on David Mitchell, for example.

NB that Breton was in with the Dadaistes.

best

On 13/08/2006, at 9:52 PM, Ya Sam wrote:

> As Pynchon writes in his intro to Slow Learner, he has been strongly 
> influenced by surrealism. The combination of incompatible, the staple 
> of surrealist aesthetics may be found many of his works. Now, 
> officially surrealism dates back to 1924, when Breton's manifesto was 
> written. The novel doesn't cover that period. I don't know whether the 
> word was already in currency before 1918, but as dadaism is considered 
> to be the cradle of surrealism, and taking into account the sheer 
> wackiness of the movement, I think that Pynchon will pay some 
> attention to it, and maybe even insert a pastiche of dadaist poetry.