V-2nd - Chapter 14

[Mark Kohut]

I think I would actually argue--sorry, Robin, whereever you are; or maybe you 
too believe this, which is one reason you so dislike this chapter---
that TRP may (almost) hate The Rite of Spring here in V. (as he may not have 
much liked Abstract Expressionism); as he disses Romanticism in later books; 
Beethoven (and Noel Coward!?) in GR; ,Manetti's Futurism in Against the 
Day.......

A 'work of art' so .....dissonant THEN, in the history of music, that it 
reflected the decadence of Western society......

On the other hand,....

Mark


----- Original Message ----
From: "kelber at mindspring.com" <kelber at mindspring.com>
To: pynchon-l at waste.org
Sent: Thu, February 3, 2011 3:35:39 PM
Subject: Fw: Re: V-2nd - Chapter 14

Sure, the Bright Young Pynchon's trying to impress us with Things He Knows.  And 
he hasn't shaken off the smell of stale frat-house beer or coffee-drenched Final 
Exam Week all-nighters.  As a naive college kid, I was thrilled by the breadth 
of V.  Approaching it for the first time as an oldster, I'm sure I would have 
been less impressed.

But it's interesting that he's developing here the techniques and tones he used 
with such great impact in Gravity's Rainbow.  Was it just that he Knew More when 
he wrote GR?  His world-view had become more solidified and mature (and more 
drug-inspired), to the point where he knew that mere name-dropping and obscure 
cultural references weren't adequate.  I'd sum it up by saying he moved away 
from his Baedeker's mentality.  But the Baedeker's viewpoint was a lot of fun 
for what it was, in V.  


Laura


-----Forwarded Message-----
>From: Richard Ryan <himself at richardryan.com>
>Sent: Feb 2, 2011 11:40 PM
>To: kelber at mindspring.com
>Subject: Re: V-2nd - Chapter 14

>
>The Rite of Spring connection is another one of P's elbow-throwing
>wink-wink references.  Yes, we get it, but is there anything to be
>interested in here?  For me the single most evocative aspect of the
>chapter is the description of the Parisian weather and Melanie's
>costumes, counterbalanced with P's grandiose pontificating on Love and
>Death.  It's the usual weird TRP mixture of deliberately annoying
>tongue clicks in counterpoint with an undulating base line of booming
>farts.