The flattened American landscape of minor writers

[Robin Landseadel]

On Feb 25, 2009, at 9:02 AM, rich wrote:

> I agree with what you say/and demonstrate John but I think its pretty
> narrow minded to exclusively name drop writers of a certain affinity
> (in this case white, male straight, jewish for most part) as the best
> of the best of post-war American fiction.
>
> rich

Speaking only for myself [while suspecting that this also applies to  
others] us Pynchonites tend to get a tad insular and obsessive—a bit  
too focused on one author to the exclusion of others. It all sounds a  
lot like:

	"Yeah well," as film critic Mitchell Prettyplace puts it in his
	definitive 18-volume study of King Kong, "you know, he did love
	her, folks." Proceeding from this thesis, it appears that
	Prettyplace has left nothing out, every shot including out-takes
	raked through for every last bit of symbolism, exhaustive
	biographies of everyone connected with the film, extras, grips,
	lab people ... even interviews with King Kong Kultists, who to be
	eligible for membership must have seen the movie at least 100
	times and be prepared to pass an 8-hour entrance exam ....
	Gravity's Rainbow, page 279 [Penguin Edition]