ATDDTA (6) 166 - 170 a

[Tore Rye Andersen]

David Morris:

>There is much in GR, for instance which is stable.  And Pynchon even
>preaches *directly* at us in some instances, leaving little doubt
>about some sentiments.  But some *events,* not to mention
>interpretations of signs are left up to doubt, most notably for me,
>Slothrop's famous visit with Darlene & Mrs Quoad.  Did it really
>happen?  And for an event described in such exquisite detail to be
>left in doubt of having really occurred says a lot about Pynchon's
>contract with the reader.  The same kind of doubts in a similar vein
>follow Slothrop's equally famous map.  I don't think Pynchon intends
>for these things to have a clear answer.

I absolutely agree. There may be things to hold on to for the disoriented 
reader, but we're never on stable ground in GR, and Mrs Quoad is one of 
Pynchon's most blatant ways of telling us so; of showing the grailseeking 
reader that:

"Those like Slothrop, with the greatest interest in discovering the truth, 
were thrown back on dreams, psychic flashes, omens, cryptographies, 
drug-epistemologies, all dancing on a ground of terror, contradiction, 
absurdity." (GR, 582)

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