Does Pynchon Produce Only 'Masterworks'?

[David Morris]

Accepting your categories, here's my take (adding #3 (No visible genius)):

1.  GR, without hesitation.  V, with some hesitation, but included because
of the inventive structure and deep themes and beautiful imagery (but
still immature writing).  M&D? Maybe, but better that the rest of his
oeuvre.

2.  ATD? OK, but as you say spotty, and sometimes embarrassingly bad.
COL49, yes, but only as a precursor to GR.  I think of GR as the marriage of
V & COL49, but find V better.  I should read COL49 again soon.
3.  Vineland, I can't understand why anyone thinks this is a masterwork, and
I've read it 3 times, twice w/ this list.  Way underdeveloped thematically,
and not at all inventive structurally.

So for me, 1 (but hesitantly maybe 2) out of 6 as masterworks, and 1 or 2
others showing some genius.  I'll still read IV, but not with great
expectations.

David Morris
On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 8:10 AM, Carvill, John <john.carvill at sap.com> wrote:


> All these terms are relative, of course, and the usual imho's apply.
> However.... Me, I'd say you could maybe split P's work into 2 categories,
> genius-wise:
>
> 1. True 'masterworks'
>
> I'd start off with GR, obviously, and claim that as, inconrovertibly, a
> 'masterwork'. M&D too, surely?
>
>
> 2. Works of (a) Genius
>
> This category would be where I'd place 'V.'. It's undoubtedly the work *of
> a* genius, though whether it's a *work of genius* in itself is open to
> debate. It may have its flaws, but it unquestionably has flashes of genius.
> Same goes for Vineland. COL49 is a tricky book for me, it was (inevitably)
> the first Pynchon I ever read but I don't rank it as high on my 'favourite
> Pynchon' scale as most people do. But so what?! I'd put it somewhere between
> Categories (1) and (2) here, but many of us would likely argue it belongs in
> Category 1.
>
> That leaves IV, which we (most of us preterite) don't know as yet, and ATD.
> To my mind, ATD is the hardest of Pynchon's books to 'rate', and it is
> patchy in places, very hard to get a handle on, but personally I would stick
> it firmly in Category (1) also.
>
> So, by my count, out of 6 novels, that's 3 or 4 masterworks. Not bad for a
> wee lad from Oyster Bay!
>
> Cheers
> J
>
>
>
>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20090707/692953f9/attachment-0001.html>