IVIV: Sportello's integrity

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Agree with you about both movies.

Laura


-----Original Message-----
>From: rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com>
>Sent: Mar 20, 2011 3:14 PM
>To: alice wellintown <alicewellintown at gmail.com>
>Cc: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>Subject: Re: IVIV: Sportello's integrity
>
>the problem is that he's too blandly depicted to really hate or care
>much for or at the least understand his motives.
>
>i was just watching a movie called Leaves of Grass where ed norton
>plays identical brothers, a brilliant philosophy professor and also a
>brilliant pot grower ( a quite likable chap who later in the film
>enacts a sportello like act of violence). the whole movie feels so
>phony and contrived it brought to mind what I envision IV the movie
>may turn out to be.
>
>
>
>On Sun, Mar 20, 2011 at 1:25 PM, alice wellintown
><alicewellintown at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I don't like Larry. He's not the Dude and he doesn't have fun
>> adventures or funny friends. Though Bigfoot is a plus, most of Larry's
>> crew are just too flat on their feet and false in their features. The
>> book is a failure.
>>
>> On Sun, Mar 20, 2011 at 12:13 PM, Kai Frederik Lorentzen
>> <lorentzen at hotmail.de> wrote:
>>>
>>> About the only thing my IV re-reads made me think about is that Pynchon,
>>> somehow, manages it to present to us Larry Sportello as a, more or less,
>>> likable character. Why is that? Is it the dope smoking?
>>> Is it Larry's silly way of clothing? Or the kitsch story about a little baby
>>> being rescued from the addiction of its parents? The Franzen-like family
>>> reunion in the end? Likely a mixture of all of these items.
>>>
>>> However, the text (check out the page numbers for yourself!) gives us the
>>> picture of a natural born persecutor ...
>>>
>>> - In Junior High, Larry took the finger prints of his classmates
>>>
>>> - Later on, he did rat in a 16 (in words: "sixteen") year old girl just
>>> because she was dealing with horse
>>>
>>> - His nickname "Doc", and now it becomes really interesting, Larry gained
>>> during the time when he was still chasing people not able to pay their
>>> debts. He had a little bag made of artificial red crocodile leather. Inside
>>> Knock Out drugs plus injection devices. Now, Larry says he never made use of
>>> it. But can we trust his statement? I don't think so and I'll explain to you
>>> why. First of all, the narrative voice is nearly identical with Larry's pov.
>>> Plus - and that's the crucial point by which Pynchon tells us the truth -
>>> the name "Doc" sticks to him! The stories are all around ... Everybody calls
>>> him "Doc".
>>>
>>> So no surprise that he literally kills human beings in the end. Inherent
>>> Vice, indeed ...
>>>
>>> KFL
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>