JFK

[Carvill, John]

Ok, lets let JFK be.

I have the Kerry V. Companion, I will re-read the inro with your comments in mind.

Personally, I tend to recoil from 'encrypted' readings of anything. Then again, it's surely not incongruent to read Pynchon texts in a 'paranoid' frame?

As I've said a number of times, I think the real puzzle of IV is in gauging whether/to what extent, there is any 'hidden' meaning or purpose. How far from a 'simple' mix of noir pastiche and semi-autobiographical reminiscence is this book? I don't think anybody has provided a satisfactory answer yet. There are all sorts of potential 'clues' in the text, but the 'light' nature of IV makes it much more difficult than usual to say, with any confidence, whether more should be read into a given 'clue'. That 'smorgasbord' of Hughes company land is a good example. What Robin has done with it is intriguing. If I'm honest, my guess is that he is stretching it a little bit too far. But your dismissals are a bit strong. Why not let him keep on stretching? Who knows, something really interesting may emerge, before it snaps.

A_and, I really liked that connection between Roger & Jessica under the barrage balloons, and Doc's tryst beneath the incoming LA airport traffic.




-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On Behalf Of alice wellintown
Sent: 23 November 2009 12:01
To: pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: Re: JFK

Be that as it may, and I prefer to let it be, the conspiracy is a part
of the fiction, part of the positive and negative paranoia theme and
NOT the encrypted meaning of the texts. Again, I recommend that
Introduction to the Comapanion to V. by Grant because it spells out,
with the support of dozens of Pynchon scholars, the problem inherent
in the paranoid reading of P-texts. Tuning inot the frequencies, as
Robin has clearly demonstrated, is useful and can dish up insightful
readings, but falling into the pit of paranoid conspiracy will only
divert attention from the text as a work of art and that is what it
is, not an editorial or political pamphlet or muckraking polemic.