Editing Pynchon?

[Carvill John]

Yeah ma, I know about political blinders, I sure do. I could talk on and on about that. I certainly used to think that a lot of the slaggings Vineland got were down to the fact that the book displayed an overtly leftist political sensibility, and I still stand by that. But I don't think (may be worng) that applies to anywhere near the same extent when it comes to people not liking ATD. I think most Pynchon 'fans' who disliked ATD disliked it for non political reasons, I really do. I don't agree with them, but I don't put their dislike of ATD down to politics, whereas I have no doubt that at least *some* of  the Vineland haters hate Vineland because it's so unambiguously leftist. And before anybody says it, yes I know: it criticises the Left, but from a leftist perspective.

----------------------------------------
> From: robinlandseadel at comcast.net
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Subject: Re: Editing Pynchon?
> Date: Fri, 7 Aug 2009 14:04:03 -0700
>
> On Aug 7, 2009, at 1:43 PM, Carvill John wrote:
>
>> I still find it hard to understand how long-term Pynchonistas can
>> hate ATD so.
>
> It's not hard at all if you take political blinders into account. Look
> at where the dismissive reviews come from, look at where the praise-
> filled reviews come from. Think of the nature of the press in 1973,
> think of the nature of the press in 2006. Political blinders explain a
> lot, if you're willing to look at the percentages.
>
> There's a section of GR where the structure deliberately falls apart,
> a great opportunity to the author to collect floor-scraps from various
> writing projects and arrange into a formal, albeit random, pattern.
> This reminds me a lot of Laurie Anderson's "When I talk to people, I
> try to look more intelligent than I really am—it works."
>
>

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