Questions ..

[Carvill John]

<<..Put more simply, book reviews are a form of journalism and literary  
criticism is a form of academic discourse.

While there may be a sliding scale between them, journalism is  essentially 
driven by:  a deadline, a word count, and an intended  audience. ..>>

Well put. And 'intended audience' is, in the case of a new Pynchon book 
particularly, key. As you say, once a reviewer has done a quick recap on 
Pynchon's career, often being forced into cliche territory by a lack of 
space, how much is left for a proper consideration of ATD? Then again, how 
considered can it be given deadlines and, yes, those 1085 pages? What we old 
fans need is a review which attempts to consider ATD in relation to 
Pynchon's other works. Where does it rank? Better than Vieland? Better than 
Mason & Dixon? But of course these sort of assessments can only be made in 
the fullness of time.

Ok, got 112 pages left to go..........

Cheers
JC

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