IVIV (1) "She came along the alley and up the back steps ..."

[Tore Rye Andersen]

John:
 
> Tore's point about IV's opening line being a better fit for the
> ATD/M&D/GR 'abstract' category, rather than the direct,
> character-introducing ones, is interesting, particularly in light of
> recent discussions here on how to categorise Pynchon's novels. It's
> good to see a categorisation criteria introduced which places IV in
> such exalted company!

Well, more like a category unto its own, is what I was trying to say.
On the one hand, it does kick off with the introduction of a character, 
like V./Lot 49/VL, and thus hardly fits into the 'abstract' category of 
GR/M&D/AtD, but on the other hand, the character is introduced in a 
different fashion than in the first lines of V./Lot 49/VL, which with
their explicit naming and situating of a character constitute a clear
pattern.
 
IV breaks with this pattern in the way Sasha almost sidles into the frame, 
in a sentence which is at once intimate ("she" and "the way she always used 
to") and external to Doc and his apartment (seeing her moving along the 
alley). The intimacy seems to indicate that the perspective is tinted by 
Doc, whereas the description of her in the alley would indicate that it is 
completely outside of him (unless Doc infers that she must have moved along 
the alley in order to arrive the way she does, by the back steps). Inside
is outside, or vice versa.
 
Like Pudding always sez: "it's changing out from under me. Oh, dodgy -- 
very dodgy."
 
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