Interlude: If James Wood Supposes...

[kelber at mindspring.com]

-----Original Message-----
>From: Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>

>
>On 2/5/08, Paul Mackin wrote:
>> Last evening I watched a dvd of "Children of Men."
>>
>
>I totally missed the buzz on that one...thanks for the tip,
>it sounds like something I might like...

Personally, I thought it was over-hyped.  The contrived plot device was too distracting.  I think a lot of people responded on some level to the Madonna-and-child aspects of the story.


>I was considering this afternoon how the characters in AtD
>have a bit more depth than those in, say,  V. --
>ie, more physical detail such as eye color, hairscapes, neckscapes --
>ie, are not obvious symbols or pointers to some tendency or
>        force of nature (as, say, Pig Bodine tends to verge on being,
>        or Benny Profane is declared to be (schlemihl)
>        -  well, ok, Vibe has a touch of that and maybe Webb...)
>ie, have inner lives that stand revealed by a variety of methods
>                     (although maybe not as lavishly as some might want)
>
>but that thought isn't fully formed --
>
>could go 2 ways:  drag in more examples from other writers,
>and eventually end up agreeing that "characters who leap up off the page"
>isn't maybe Pynchon's main thrust (although his characters tend to have
>experiences that *some* people strongly identify with)

TRP's novels aren't psychological studies, so, in theory anyway, realistic characters aren't required (though they sure wouldn't hurt).  He sort of has generalized types: hedonist, seeker, no-nonsense sanguine types (Merle, Dally, Frank, Stray).  Actually, it's hard to think of any of the last type in TRP's earlier works.  A sign of the "mature" Pynchon?


Laura