IVIV amethyst is resilient. There is too much kindness in the room all of a sudden.

[Paul Mackin]

On Sun, 2009-09-06 at 11:27 -0400, rich wrote: 
> sure Pynch is a sentimentalist but when alot of the book falls within
> that certain register as IV does it gets pretty old pretty fast
> I like the Pynchonian curved, hilly, valley-full, switchbacked road
> trip. too much of IV is cruise control on the highway
> 
> p.s. I did get a laugh at watching The Good German last night--George
> Clooney thinking Dora was a person throughout the movie--curious, he,
> who has written news articles about the V-2 rocket program, didn't
> know that? He is kinda clueless. maybe it took a while for people to
> learn about Dora
> 
> and yup, the Dora Pokler scene is fraught w/ that same schmaltzy-ness
> (in fact in the Good German Lena's husband is very much like Pokler)
> but we have more background on him, more to latch onto as a reader. at
> least I see it that 

Maybe because the book has been labeled a beach read or noir detective
people begin to forget they are reading Pynchon. They begin to expect at
least semi realism so that impossibly happy and sentimental outcomes
feel out of place. Because the world just isn't like that. Amethyst
wouldn't really recover from her heroin poisoning any more that Poekler
would give his wedding band to the dying woman or Dixon would turn the
whip on the slave driver. But wouldn't it be nice to think such things
could happen. The world would surely be a better place. Reminds one of
the ending of 3 Penny Opera when Mackie Messer is saved from the gallows
with a full pardon from the Queen. 

There's also the idea of fiction being a comment on its own
fictionality.

But Pynchon readers know and expect all that.

They expect it but they might also get tired of it, which I suspect I
may be getting a little.

P