Repost: The Big One

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Face it, with few exceptions, we're all boring-assed people leading stultifyingly dreary lives (I'm guiltier here than most), with nary a well-developed character, plot line or theme in sight.  That's why we turn to fiction ...

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: Paul Mackin <paul.mackin at verizon.net>
>Sent: Jul 16, 2008 1:22 PM
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: Re: Repost: The Big One
>
>Mark Kohut wrote:
>> A few obs. 
>>
>> I have often thought that the non-rounded characters in much of Pynchon's work is because we real human beings aren't too "round" in our current degraded world,in Pynchon's worledview.
>>   
>You may be on to something, Mark.
>
>I remember back about 40 years ago being told that we were 
>ONE-dimensional men.
>
>In Pynchon's world, however, we are surely more like hyper-paranoid men.
>
>What kind of distinctive character trait would required for that?
>
>Guess I'm talking about GR--don't know what the hell happened after that.
>
>Perhaps characters in the True Land of Paranoia don't need much 
>character--we can pretty much forget shapes.
>
>Getting buffeted around by all those interconnecting forces (everything 
>connects) doesn't leave much room for individual discretion.
>
>I have long suspected that reading too much Pynchon can make people act 
>kind of peculiarly.
>
>For example, some of us adopt the phrase "everything connects" as sort 
>of a motto.
>
>That gives me pause.  A little tiny pause anyway.
>
>What if the satirical origins get lost?
>
>It might be wise to take a lesson from the case of the cover of this 
>issue of The New Yorker.
>
>Some folks may not realize they aren't in Kansas anymore. (not too many 
>I hope)
>
>But getting back to "everything connects," yes a lot of things ARE 
>connected, and we should we conscious of this,  but there are still a 
>lot of other things that are not.
>
>To believe that everything is connected can be the mark of a psychotic. 
>(a real one)
>
>A well-meaning sane person who thinks too inclusively here runs the 
>danger of not picking up on the connections that really exist.
>
>I duuno where this is going  . . . . except I did want to let Mark know 
>I liked his idea.
>
>P.
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