IV Chapter 17 Thoughts

[Mark Kohut]

As Vonnegut wrote about a "cat's cradle": no damn cat; no damn cradle.

No unreliable narrator (in all that matters); no postmodernism. Imho.

--- On Thu, 12/10/09, alice wellintown <alicewellintown at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: alice wellintown <alicewellintown at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: IV Chapter 17 Thoughts
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Date: Thursday, December 10, 2009, 6:59 AM
> IV is a satire, a comic parody,
> albeit a dark and romantic one, so it
> makes perfect sense that Larry's use/abuse of the juice is
> introduced
> as an element of parody. P's hysterical, over the top
> parody here, and
> mystery and detecitice fictions are only the most obvious
> texts
> subjected to P's antics, is best approached by considering
> the
> narrative, that is, the unreliable postmodern (effaced if
> you prefer)
> narrator, and then, and only then, reading the tone. The
> tone or
> attitude of the implied author is not easy to discern, but
> I doubtwhat
> rich romeo has said is true, that is, that the older
> readers, those
> P's age or close to it, have some advantage as pertains to
> identifying
> the tone. In fact, all other things being even, the younger
> reader of
> postmodern fictions would seem to have an advantage.
> 
> On Thu, Dec 10, 2009 at 5:13 AM, Carvill, John <john.carvill at sap.com>
> wrote:
> > << Remember as well that Doc being constantly
> stoned-a wake 'n bake type-
> > ties in with his soul brother Philip Marlowe. As
> Raymond Chandler
> > faces up to such considerations as alcoholic
> black-outs and simple
> > mortality in "The Long Goodbye," so does Pynchon face
> up to some of
> > the consequences of Ganja's candy-coated fog and
> simple mortality in
> > "Inherent Vice." >>
> >
> > I know I'm in a minority in questioning the extent to
> which Doc actually is debilitated by dope usage throughout
> the book. But even if you assume Doc's constantly stoned,
> there is little similarity between him and Marlowe, in that
> respect. Sure, Marlowe usually carries a bottle of pretty
> good rye around with him, and often uses it to lubricate
> potential informants, but he doesn't stumble about drunk
> much of the time. Roger Wade, in The Long Goodbye, is an
> alcoholic. Wade is, to some extent, a representation of,
> and/or rumination on, some of Chandler's own traits. Marlowe
> is not an alcoholic, not really even a heavy drinker.
> Marlowe likes a drink, but is able to handle it.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>