P defends V. ...

[Robin Landseadel]

On Aug 29, 2010, at 10:08 AM, Natália Portinari wrote:

> I don't feel safe to talk about this, because unlike you and Alice  
> are claiming I've read this introduction only once. Still, I don't  
> think Pynchon's judging V. in it except for when, as you said, he  
> includes it in the same time frame of his early work...

Right. On the other hand, the literary crimes he's confessing to in  
this little essay apply quite well to "V.", I gave examples, they're  
pretty dire. I think it's foolish to pretend that Pynchon isn't also  
referring to faults in the early novel in his intro to Slow Learner.  
It's funny, as the author points out some of those flaws in "Against  
the Day."  And I notice a distinct improvement in overall writing  
skills in CoL49 as compared to "V." I'm not talking about the big  
themes—probably better handled in the bigger and more expansive/ 
inclusive "V." I'm talking about the flow of the sentences, the  
quality of the parodies, the general flow of the page. And that voice  
is much improved beyond that by the time we get to Gravity's Rainbow.

A lot of what's going on between me and Terrance/Alice comes from his/ 
hers return to the P-List by proposing that "Inherent Vice" is "Crap."  
I happen to think that "Inherent Vice" is a remarkable book, "Alice"  
thinks it's as low as the author can possibly go. I think Terrance's  
issues with "Inherent Vice" have everything to do with "Class" and  
class war. I realize that my fascination with Pynchon's books set in  
California has a great deal to do with having lived in the places the  
author is writing about, places that don't really exist anymore. But I  
just happened to be there, back then. Having a clue as regards what  
the author is pointing to in CoL49, Vineland and Inherent Vice makes  
these novels particularly intriguing to me. Enough particulars of Doc  
Sportello line up neatly enough with the reclusive author as to  
suggest a certain element of autobiography. Connecting IV back to  
Gravity's Rainbow illuminates the sources for certain "signs" and  
"signals" in Pynchon's novels.

Terrance keeps going on about Pynchon's novels being "American  
Romance." I don't know, think Our Dude is closer to the mark with  
Menippean Satire, but I'm actually more interested in the Author  
himself and find many instructive parallels in the history of the  
Pynchon clan—a rather small and select group—in America, starting with  
William Pynchon of Springfield, Massachusetts. By way of example,  
there's the "Waste Doctrine" also known as "Pynchon v. Stearns." It's  
an essential difference between land use patterns in the Old World and  
New World, when "Developing Property" was illegal in England and  
encouraged in America.  It just so happens that the Stearns were the  
familial line that lead to T.S. Eliot. Golly gee, makes ya wonder  
where the "Wasteland" came from. And the Pynchon line leads us to T.  
R. Pynchon, III.

And then there's this:

	Pynchon's Coast: Inherent Vice and the Twilight of the Spatially  
Specific
	Bill Millard

	http://www.collegehillreview.com/004/0040501.html

Where one sees that the concern about "Waste" and the Waste Doctrine  
continues in a very focused way in "Inherent Vice."

Terrance restricts his view to this sort of thing as it relates to  
American Literature and American Literature alone. All well and good,  
but I'm suggesting there are other elements as well. The Pynchon  
family history includes many members of the clan that resemble or are  
related to characters in the novels. There is after all, an element of  
revisionist history in all of Pynchon's writing. That's an element of  
his writing I am particularly interested in right now.