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

[David Casseres]

I wholly agree with you -- and yet, some of those flat hippies in
Vineland seemed to be old friends of mine from the real world,
disguised as stereotypes.

On 11/3/06, bekah <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
> I thought that Mason and Dixon were more rounded than other Pynchon
> characters.  I thought that the Vineland characters were the most
> flat.  Rounded characters have twists and quirks,  good and bad
> sides,  a certain unpredictability.  Flat characters more closely
> conform to an image in society - a hippie,  a social debutante, a "
>
>
> A writer can describe a hippie at length and breadth with each and
> every detail in place but still have a flat character because the
> character fits a stereotype - he's not an individual.  The outline is
> provided by society.  There are no surprises in his actions.   An
> excruciatingly well articulated  paper-doll is still a paper doll and
> has no real individuality,  he is still,  generally,   a "type."
> The characters of Dickens are like this,  terrific paper dolls
> pointing to the issues of import in Victorian England.  To say that
> Pynchon's characters are flattish is certainly no slight and I
> *certainly*  didn't mean it as one.    Actually,  to me,  the fact
> that the characters are somewhat flat means that the themes or
> something else may be more important.
>