Pynchon feature for new online mag?

[grladams at teleport.com]

I'm so much more lucid about Pynchon while I'm actually in a group read -
my mind is fast reapproaching it's normal state of mush. 

But does John's request mean he wants to have a serial? or a festshrift? i
bet the really good posters have saved some of their masterpieces, for
easier retreival. It would only take up a mere 6 volumes. Maybe the real
mission here is to just ask for them. Oh smarties, we wish that vanity at
such a time is not viewed a foible. I know i'd like to read some of those
golden ones again. if only the archives were really searchable. They've
gotten so dissipated by this time. 


There's been people on this list who've met up, gone to see shows together.
T'is a spirited ungovernable space. Easily a majority of recommendations
from others on this list have been great reads, great music, etc. 

Is this also a milestone for the list too? That we are looking back now and
we may never have such an experience of this peculilar era, at this
frequency, ever again. ATD may fully be the last really big mindfucking
simultaneous group read of a contemporary Pynchon novel that there was.
What I think I'm getting at here is a feeling of loss that is suffused into
the list for me lateley...a love hate relationship with the list because
for the last half year... the dead carcass of Inherent Vice kept reminding
me I was chasing the high, like a junkie, and I can't seem to get it back
again. Even unsubscribed and resubscribed several times. frustrating.

Jill


Original Message:
-----------------
From: David Morris fqmorris at gmail.com
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2010 15:22:14 -0600
To: johncarvill at hotmail.com, pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: Re: Pynchon feature for new online mag?


 A few days ago Carvill John wrote:

> But this guy, well read, etc. but never read a word of Pynchon, well, he
made a suggestion that I immdiately rejected, but then reconsidered: why
don't we run a feature on Pynchon, written by Pynchon List people?

And just now:

> FOlks!  Last nagging email on this one. Lots of good people signed up,
but still plenty of quality p-listers yet to step forward.
> Come on!
> Don't make me name names!

And I say:

Tall order, Carvill.  Even with a new novel it's hard to get any
consistent participation with Group Reads on the P-list.  Almost all
start out with lots of volunteers, but end with less than a handful as
days grind by. And participation quality is a far cry from anything
resembling a "feature," especially if you mean it to be a "regular"
one.  Insights here can be very bight, but usually also very brief:
bursts, not usually fully-fledged, nor sustained.  That's why the
group participation works so well, filling out threads that bear
following.

Flame wars are our specialty (you've been part of a few), and even
those have faded to a flicker from high-spirited days of old.  Even
Millison couldn't be counted on any sustained commentary without his
"kick-me" flame-baiting (such a masochist!).

Also occasional NP insights from all comers continue to spark new
mental-pursuits that keep many here for years.

If it weren't so cumbersome, excerpting and compiling a few posts from
the P-list archives could provide rich material for someone willing to
commit to "regular" contributions of any merit.  But that's a tough
slog, and would require a lot of time, especially from someone who
wasn't "there."

Pynchon-notes could be a source also.  But it's pretty dry even for
Pynchon fans.

I think your biggest hurdle is that "regular" aspect re. Pynchon.
Free-wheeling literary blogger/s would probably be more fruitful, like
this "Conversational Reading" one:

http://conversationalreading.com/

Sincerely,
David Morris

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