Wheat, chaff, stalks, seeds

[kelber at mindspring.com]

I'll toss in my own completely unsupported pet theory:  Back in the early 70s, when Pynchon was working on GR he thought it would be fun to write a Chandler-type novel with his hippies and stoner friends as a cast of characters.  Maybe even took a couple of plot notes.  Never got around to writing it, but after finishing his major opus, ATD, gave himself permission to have a little fun.  I'm sure he had a blast writing it.

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: Robin Landseadel <robinlandseadel at comcast.net>
>Sent: Oct 25, 2009 5:49 PM
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: Re: Wheat, chaff, stalks, seeds
>
>On Oct 25, 2009, at 1:59 PM, alice wellintown wrote:
>
>> How do these conjectures account for _Against the Day_? Was the author
>> without age or wisdom when  he wrote and published his last Romance?
>> Also, if the novel is an imperfect form for conveying moral truths,
>> the Romance is, while by design less perfect than the imperfect novel,
>> a better form if one's objective is to convey the blackest truths in
>> the darkest heart of Man. So, with _AtD_, P's unloadings of layered
>> stuff doesn't break the reader-writer contract; we get what we
>> deserve, if not exactly what we expect. As far as a book that appeals
>> to a larger audience goes, it seems this is exactly what he tried to
>> do. Let us pray he never attempts this trick again; it's dangerous.
>> And, beside(s) the point to booot [sic].
>
>So let me get this straight, did you come here for the argument clinic  
>or was it abuse?