Kick-Ass Thank You

[Bryan Snyder]

I have commented on Lake in previous emails, I don't remember what the
subjects were but my question about Lake was pretty similar and ... well ..
I won't say what I thought or think now that I'm done. 

With all the Pynchon characters often being stands in for ideas or concepts
and all the lit critic stuff, which I think is pretty clearly accurate, I
did not get Lake at all at this point in the book.  I don't understand why
she does... pretty much anything that she does.  Maybe that's his point with
her.  Are there any other daughters in Pynchon's work that get real um...
plot coverage?  I've only read GR, AtD, COL49 and while 49's protagonist is
a female, she's not characterized as a "daughter" even though of course she
is one, obviously.  Maybe this is a Pynchon statement on daughters and
fathers (there's a lot about fathers and sons in AtD)... does anyone know if
he has a daughter... ?


Maybe she's the literary manifestation of what he thinks of his niece. Which
now that I'm done typing the joke... doesn't seem all that of a stretch.

B

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On Behalf
Of Jasper
Sent: Saturday, May 26, 2007 6:35 AM
To: pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: Re: Kick-Ass Thank You

Well I gave it a shot.  I wanted to get more people participating, thus 
all the (possibly inane) questions.  Mostly it was just the regulars 
though, and we should all thank them for keeping this going.  I don't 
blame anyone for lurking (or just ignoring); I expect to go back to 
doing that myself.

I am curious why there were only a couple of comments on the last two 
questions about character motivations and psychology (Why Lake + Deuce, 
and why Lake thinks she's "bad").  I figured those would do a lot better 
than the more abstract questions about mirroring and dreams and "Them".  
And I'm probably a sucker to expect more than a couple-three replies to 
a poll, but anyway, what was the problem:

a) The text is too cryptic to understand character motivations
b) The text is too brief to really discuss anything about the characters
c) Pynchon's characters aren't traditional characters so we shouldn't 
treat them that way
d) It's a big complex book and I haven't gotten a handle on it yet
e) The answers were obvious and the questions pointless
f) The list is not a safe enough environment for offering readings that 
others may consider wrong or silly or unsupportable
g) Other -- fill in the space provided:

Anyway, whatever the reason, let me just toss this sputtering torch in 
Keith's direction: it's all you now, tiger!  As Dylan said to Columbus, 
"Good luck."



robinlandseadel at comcast.net wrote:
> I feel a need right now to thank Jasper for the Kick-Ass job he did of
taking 
> over the helm for this passage of AtD. Loved the questions, how they 
> invited and generated discussions.
> Too cool!
>
>