Rocketmen and Wastelands

[Daniel Julius]

 Carvill wrote:


He sticks to the pomo/theoretical side which is my least favourite aspect of
> Pynchon.
> Then again, he could hardly leave all that stuff out, especially in an
> academic paper. Someone should write a thesis on fun in Pynchon. But he
> also
> doesn't mention the wonderful poetic prose, astonishing imagery and
> inventiveness, etc.


And I write:

Academic papers are supposed to be about objective truth, right?  "Pynch
meant this when he said this."  (I think professors stress this more now to
preemptively convince parents who want their kids to learn a trade or a hard
science that there is value in this seemingly frivolous activity).  This
ostensible devotion to objectivity flies directly in the face of naming fun,
which is like one of the most subjective categories there is.

And also, yer right, dude is a senior in college, he has to fit into his
teachers' mold before he can break it later.  You know, if graduate school
doesn't just beat the theory into him more, which I bet it does.  He's got
to publish, right?  He can't write or teach in a discursive language that
his peers don't use.

Point is, I'm starting to believe that if you want to talk about the fun in
literature, you better drag yr ass into journalism, lest academia squeeze
the life out of it for you.

--
Dan
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