LRB Review of IV, & Pynchon's Characters

[Carvill, John]

Thanks to whoever posted the LRB review. Robin? Apologies for not having
time to check...

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n17/jone01_.html?utm_source=3Dnewsletter&utm_me
diu=m=3Demail&utm_campaign=3D3117


A brilliant piece, and made me think, re. this bit...

"Something that people who don't like Pynchon often complain about is
that his 'characters' aren't really characters, in the sense that
developed over the course of the 19th century: basically, there's never
anyone to sympathise with. For his fans, there's always enough else
going on for this not to be a problem. But it's also the case that
Pynchon's fiction reveals something bogus, even sinister, about the very
idea of 'sympathetic characters'. As readers we may rely on our liberal
humanist ability to 'empathise' with immaterial strangers, but we can
still tolerate with bland equanimity the manifold suffering of the
wretched of the earth when we put down our novels and turn on the
evening news. That's OK: if we couldn't, we'd all be suicide bombers.
Still, in this respect, Pynchon's alienating novels are altogether more
'realistic' than any number of finely wrought explorations of individual
consciousness."

...all true of course. But you could always have argued that the
ever-present, central 'character' with whom we readers can sympathise,
was Thomas Pynchon. And in the case of 'Inherent Vice', this line is (as
pointed out here) blurred even further, because we know that, just set
slightly to one side of Doc, is Pynchon, writing that great behemoth of
a book we all so cherish.


I thought I was bored with IV reviews now, but this one's refreshed the
experience. 

Cheers
J