Rating ATD

[Bekah]

Well,  as it turns out I'm due for a rereading of GR (by Christmas  
for another group which has bravely decided to take it on).   So my  
rankings may change over the next few months.

Anyway,  I'd not fault ATD for a lack of central protagonist(s).    
Yes,  it might have been interesting if OBA had gone with  good guy  
vs evil guy here but I think that might have been a tad simplistic  
for this one.  And yet that's part of what a goodly chunk of the book  
is about and I think that's how the two would have had to come down.   
Perhaps.   As it is,  we have the dual protagonist bifurcated into 4  
- the Webb boys vs the multi-faceted Vibe family.

I think the Chums were brilliant - they kept me mindful that it's all  
fiction and to stay loose in the reading - above it all.

Anyway,  I'd still rank M&D a shade of an eyelash higher than ATD so  
it's:

M&D
ATD
TCoL49
Vineland
GR
Slow Learner
(never read V.)

As I said, this is open to revision what with my upcoming reread of  
GR because, who knows,  I may enjoy it and it could conceivably rise  
in status above Vineland.

Bekah


On Sep 8, 2008, at 1:06 PM, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:

> 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  
> obse!
>  ssing 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
>