Everybody Must Get Stoned

[Robin Landseadel]

On Dec 10, 2009, at 11:58 AM, John Carvill wrote:

>  I just think it sort of trivialises GR to say, oh, Pynchon wrote that
> while he was stoned.

Why? How?

Gravity's Rainbow is a masterpiece, just as "Strawberry Fields  
Forever" is a masterpiece. How does John being constantly ripped while  
constructing Strawberry Fields trivialize the music? Sorry, I don't  
get it. Did you ever know any stoned artists, 'cause I sure have. I  
have every good reason to believe that there are passages in Pynchon's  
books that are included in spite of the author not really quite  
understanding what he came up with, just as I'm sure that Baudelaire  
might look at one of his poems and ask—"Did I write that?"—or Hendrix  
come up with the electric guitar equivalent of Beethoven's Eroica at  
Monterey Pop and then proceed to set his guitar on fire.