ATD: NO SPOILERS NO PAGE # Re: Rocketmen and Wastelands

[Ya Sam]

On the whole I agree with Bekah. If I want a round character I read Mann, 
Zola or Tolstoy, if I want the character not only to be round but also DEEP, 
nobody beats Dostoevsky imo, as for Pynchon's flat characters, I enjoy them 
a lot, they fit pretty well in his paranoid systems, especially Mickey 
Wuxtry-Wuxtry :)


>From: bekah <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net>
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: RE: ATD: NO SPOILERS NO PAGE # Re: Rocketmen and Wastelands
>Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 07:21:20 -0800
>
>At 8:09 PM +0100 11/1/06, Tore Rye Andersen wrote:
>>I think that the flat characters was an early weakness of Pynchon's, 
>>especially evident in V. Both Benny Profane and Herbert Stencil are 
>>somewhat cartoonish, and are clearly meant to represent The Street and The 
>>Hothouse, respectively.
>
>
>I don't think that flat characters are necessarily a weakness.   Flat 
>characters can be meant as stereotypes to one degree or another and they 
>can set off a satire extremely well.   They lend themselves to the comic 
>more readily than the "well developed" character. "Rounded"  (fleshed out)  
>characters can end up driving a narrative, flat ones get driven by the plot 
>or theme or something else. Rounded characters are built on their emotions 
>and motives (I think) and Pynchon doesn't usually go there in much depth;  
>he has other places and things to visit.
>
>The characters in GR and M&D were more fully rounded than the ones in 
>Vineland or TCoL49 or V.   Actually,  I'm wondering if the characters in 
>ATD will be more cameos than anything.   Pynchon is not writing to develop 
>believable characters,  he's writing to develop some enjoyable thinking and 
>consideration of the circumstances we find ourselves in and what drives the 
>circumstances.
>
>Of course there are always exceptions - the above is not a "rule."
>
>Bekah

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