Wheat, chaff, stalks, seeds

[kelber at mindspring.com]

I also *really* do not like it, though I'm willing to pick through the carcass, looking for shreds of ... ick, I'll drop that metaphor -- not enough caffeine in the system to think it through.  Anyway, I'd place IV solidly at the bottom of any ranking or rating of Pynchon's works [haven't read his Minstrel Island script, admittedly]. I certainly hope nothing else dislodges it from that position.  Is there anyone here who'd disagree?  Speak up!

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: John Carvill <johncarvill at gmail.com>
>Sent: Oct 23, 2009 7:19 AM
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Cc: rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com>
>Subject: Wheat, chaff, stalks, seeds
>
>You *really* do not like IV, Rich, eh?
>
>I think you underestimate the importance of the book, at least to an
>extent. To me, it seems a very nicely balanced blend of elements
>which, on their own, are worthy, eg. the noir pastiche, etc. But, as
>ever with Pynchon, something the book shares with GR, ATD, etc., is
>that it all adds up to a lot more than the sum of those parts.
>
>For what it's worth, I gave IV as a 40th birthday present to a guy who
>I've unsucessfully tried to get reading Pynchon several times before,
>and he just told me the other day how much he's enjoying it.
>Ironically, one of the first things he had to say about the book was,
>"It's got some great characters in it..."
>
>Hey, how was he supposed to know that Pynchon books don't have
>'characters' in 'em?
>
>It's possible to smother pretty much anything - yes, even a Pynchon
>novel - in a huge blanket of over-expectation. You (and all of us
>here) are approaching IV as a bit Pynchon 'fan', with all sorts of
>preconceptions. Plus, be fair, you were in a bad mood when the book
>was published anyway. Maybe you'll reconsider the book somewhere down
>the line?
>
>
>> but i think u noted this already Laura, and it bears repeating that
>> parodying something that is already the object of so much parody or is
>> a parody itself (TV, movies) is really is annoying, unoriginal and
>> pointless and really sinks IV
>>
>> Pynchon seems to have a problem with being super smart which is OK and
>> he usually is good at balancing the dumb and the smart but if Vineland
>> was a half-hearted attempt compared to the monster works, IV is dead
>> on arrival--its mostly chaff or better yet the sticks and seeds
>>
>> rich