Repost: "The Big One"

[Henry]

I once asked a little girl who had just seen "Bambi" for the first time what
her favorite part was.  She was a particularly bright child, but very young,
and so without guile she told me "When Bambi's mother was shot."  I
understood immediately!  It's the most exciting scene!

That's why I like the GR=Inferno idea.  

For what it's worth, I still ENJOY GR the most.

It's the same as why I like Kill Bill 1 better than 2; it rocks harder.  

Yeah, I'm that simple.


Henry Mu
Information, Media, and Technology Consultant

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/henrymu 

-----Original Message-----
From: robinlandseadel 

<snip>

It's all very well and good that you, like many others, see Gravity's
Rainbow
as Pynchon's greatest work. I think it's rather like saying the "Inferno" is
Dante's greatest work and that "Purgatorio" and "Paradiso" are inferior
sequels. 

GR is a vision of hell. M & D is the purgatory of our country's north/south 
divide [among others, including Mason's personal purgatory.]  Against the 
Day has many reaching towards heaven and flying towards Grace. I happen 
to very much enjoy Vineland and Mason & Dixon and Against the Day.
There's a cadre of self-appointed critics that want to maintain a theory
that there is essentially no moral center in Pynchon's world. I do not agree

with that viewpoint.. Those same critics maintain that Pynchon's pinnacle
is the profoundly pessimistic Gravity's Rainbow*. And so it goes.