V-2nd - Kudos to Kohut and Bailey

[kelber at mindspring.com]

As originally planned, the V-2 Group read ends this Sunday.

I apologize profusely for not responding to (but reading!)all of the great posts by Kohut and Bailey, who (with occasional help from random P-listers) kept the flame alive with lots of pithy comments about that very dense Conclusion.  I suspect a lot of people read them, but like me, wimped out on responding.

So my question to Kohut and Bailey -- those two valiant torch-bearers! -- and anyone else who'd like to answer:

Has this reading changed your view of the book for better or worse, or left it intact?  What was/is your view of the book anyway?

I'd say this reading somewhat lessened my view of the book, in that the Profane sections (with the exception of the Catskills and alligator hunt sequences) seriously got on my nerves in a way that they hadn't in my two earlier readings.  Just getting too old for them, I guess.

On the other hand, Mondaugen's Story stands is as brilliant as ever, and the Esthers Nose Job and V. in Love chapters and The Conclusion could have been ripped from GR.  Could Pynchon have written GR without this first go-round?  Unlikely.  It's interesting to note that there are no analogs for those Profane/Whole Sick Crew/NY hipster scenes in GR.  Pynchon himself clearly rejected that literary dead-end.  It's gone for good.  That alone makes V. a worthwhile endeavor for the young Pynchon.

If V. had been the only book he'd written, would it stand?  I think it would.  Even with the weak Profane sections, there's so much that's fascinating (love that Kilroy/Band Pass Filter riff!, the juxtapositions are so quirky, some of the paragraphs so rich and mind-bending, that I don't think the book would have fizzled into obscurity over the years.

Good book, Great Group Read, Greatest Living Author.

Laura


-----Original Message-----
>From: Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>
>Sent: Mar 17, 2011 9:52 PM
>To: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>Subject: Dear Plisters,
>
>Are we done? What's next? 
>
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