Rating ATD
kelber at mindspring.com
kelber at mindspring.com
Mon Sep 8 15:06:56 CDT 2008
For most of us on the list (I think), GR is Pynchon's masterpiece, setting the bar impossibly high for anything else he's written or will ever write to surpass it. But I know there are quite a few people here who prefer other of his books (might Bekah, Robin, and Mike Bailey be included? Forgive me if I'm wrong). I'd be particularly interested in what those people have to say about ATD -- how it stacks up against TRP's other books.
For me, ATD's principle flaw was the lack of a single or at least dual protagonist. I think I understand why Pynchon made this choice. A book that has the chaos of WWI, anarchy, modernity, etc. at its core is too big for a single viewpoint. On the other hand, there's a significant focus on duality, which could have provided a context for a dual protagonist. Using the Chums of Chance as a kind of group protagonist might be intellectually interesting, but it's emotionally flat. The point of a protagonist is to give us an emotional, visceral connection to the story. Slothrop isn't present in much of GR, but he still provides an emotional thread through the whole book. Oedipa's present throughout COL49, and we share her paranoia throughout. M&D and V (Stencil/Profane) have dual protagonists. That they interact weakly in V makes that book less emotionally satisfying (and TRP's books are emotional. If they were just cerebral exercises, I don't think we'd all be here obsessing over him). Zoyd seems to be the protagonist of Vineland (in that we meet him first), but, unlike Slothrop or Oedipa, its not about his quest, which weakens both his protagonist status and the book as a whole.
The group read gave me a lot of new insights into ATD and made me appreciate the book much more. But it didn't alter my estimation of how it ranks with TRP's other novels:
1. GR
2. V(the young Pynchon) tied with M&D (the mature Pynchon)
3. COL49
4. ATD
5. Vineland
Laura
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