IVIV (2) Help!

[Tore Rye Andersen]

John:
 
> Would be nice to see some actual discussion though.
>
> Dave, you wanna throw out some topics?
>
> Main one, maybe would be: to coin a phrase, how does it feel? 
 
It feels good, or, I suppose, groovy. 
 
Even though there is obviously more to the novel than what appears at 
a first glance, I'd still say that this is clearly Pynchon's lightest 
novel so far. At the same time, I would have to say that the lightness
seems to be a result of hard work. It reads to me like Pynchon has
deliberately been trying to curb himself this time around, has deliberately
been trying to do something other than what comes natural to him. We've
already discussed Pynchon's affection for spinning a yarn, and I think
this is what he set out to do with IV: spinning a yarn without all the 
overlaying metaphysical and historical themes which grace (or burden) 
his big novels; without, in other words, what Pynchon in his letter to 
Hollander calls "the heavy thotz and capitalized references and shit." 
Of course there are still heavy thotz in the novel, but they are not 
capitalized, they don't strut around on the stage in their heavy thotz-costume.
 
As has been pointed out a number of times already, IV feels like it draws
heavily upon Pynchon's own experiences, and that makes it a very different
text than his big historical novels (even though many of the characters
and scenes in those books undoubtedly also draw upon his experiences, e.g.
the scene in GR with Jessica pulling off her blouse in the car, if we are to 
believe Jules Siegel). 
 
It's interesting to consider that GR was published roughly 28 years after the 
action of the novel takes place, and it reads like a historical novel. IV was 
published 39 years after the plot is set, and it doesn't read like a historical 
novel at all. It reads more like a semi-autobiographical yarn of the kind
old geezers are wont to tell. This particular old geezer tells it better
than most, IMHO.
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