Two Encyclopedias, Fat and Thin Spoiler AtD 1045

[Tore Rye Andersen]

>From: "Carvill John" <johncarvill at hotmail.com>
>
>Joe's post contained a lot of good stuff (always liked the idea of 
>'meshing'), nicely arranged, and gives plenty to think about, but - and 
>plese don't take this the wrong way - how much of it is really new?

If every post on the p-list had to contain something new, I guess Toby would 
never again have to complain about too many posts. Summing up old stuff is 
perfectly fine, and the old stuff may be news to some.

>Not wanting to be argumentative, just think you guys may be being a bit 
>harsh with Robin. I agree that the 49 words thing may not be of any real 
>significance, but if he'd discovered that the last para of COL49 actually 
>was 49 words long (rather than just quoting the last 49 words) and nobody 
>had noticed that before, then it would be a genuine find, would it not? And 
>nobody would be scoffing about counting words then, would they? So in a 
>sense he was looking in the right direction, thinking along the right 
>lines. He was trying to unearth something new, and if he didn't quite make 
>it, that shouldn't stop hum, or any of us, from keeping on looking.

Disagreeing is not necessarily the same as being harsh, and I don't think 
we've been harsh on Robin here. I agree that counting words etc. may prove 
to be a fruitful endavour w/r/t Pynchon, and we should keep on looking for 
meaning in unlikely places. What I originally disagreed with here was the 
presentation of those final 49 words as particularly significant. I even 
said in my original post that I *would* have been convinced if those words 
had been contained in one sentence or one paragraph. If they had been, I 
wouldn't have been scoffing about counting words, as you point out, but they 
weren't, and therefore I find it perfectly reasonable (as opposed to harsh) 
to point this out. We should indeed keep looking for something new in 
Pynchon's novels, but we should also be allowed to discuss the validity of 
any findings.

Best,

Tore

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