The precultural paradigm of expression in the works of Pynchon

[Michael Bailey]

Monte Davis  wrote:
> Dave Monroe links to:
>
> http://jackbaty.com/2009/11/the-precultural-paradigm-of-expression-in-the-works-of-pynchon/
>
> My uncertainty that this is parody *is* the intended effect, right?
>
>

I still think the same effect could be achieved by a mish-mash
of buzzwords from any unfamiliar and difficult body of knowledge.

For instance, a Reader's Digest article way back in the 60's laid out
4 columns of business buzzwords and invited readers to choose one
from each column:
"compatible synergetic hardware contingencies", for instance.
The James Gang - among other between-track hijinks on "Yer Album" (1969) -
read a number of these on the record.

What *is* amusing (and disconcerting if you're at all sympathetic
to literary theory) is that Bernard Sokal was able to publish a deliberately
nonsensical article in the journal _Social Text_, constructed along
the same lines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokal_Affair

"Social Text's editors argue that, in this context, Sokal's work was
a deliberate fraud and betrayal of that trust. They further note that
scientific
peer review does not necessarily detect fraud either, in light of the later
Schön scandal, Bogdanov Affair, and other instances of poor science
achieving publication.

"In 2006 social scientist Harry Collins reported a quantitative experiment
examining whether he could pass as a physicist.[9] Based on short
questions and answers, not all physicists were able to distinguish
the social scientist's writings from those of real physicists."



-- 
- "The whole point of life is to have a story" - Jeremy Cioara