pynchon-l-digest V2 #4753

[Mike Weaver]

Dave:

>Puh-leeeze, "the scholars."  GR is a masterpiece.  VL is a mediocrity.
>  Don't need no "scholars" to figure that one out.

I'd say inspired competence rather than mediocre but do agree with 
Dave,wouldn't put it on the same plane(t) as GR - it's rock band to 
GR's orchestras. It's an elegy, with hints of hopes, for the 
counterculture/new left of P's younger years. Works fine on that 
level, but it has other more universal levels.

>And if VL can "easily be 'decoded' as an anti-Reagan polemic or a
>panorama/panegyric of Leftist activities in America's postwar years,"
>I'd say that wasn't a good recommendation for it...

I think Robin was saying its depths have been missed because of the 
dominant tone, a-and he wasn't suggesting it was a good 
recommendation - he was saying scholars can be complacent.

Mike