The Recognitions

[Paul Mackin]

On 5/7/2011 3:59 PM, rich wrote:
> I was alluding to the Kindly Ones and the Color of Night, both well
> written and insightful but so over-saturated with psychopathology,
> murder, rape and utterly humorless.
> my point was too much of a morbid fascination in such things has a
> small shelf-life. its all so one-sided. a novel solely featuring
> Blicero would become pretty tiresome.
> not sure what i'm defending here
> i've been drawn to these types of books for so long. the tank is
> approaching empty

I guess my remark ended up being just as ironical as the two that 
preceded it.  I thought I was being serious but the best laid plans . . 
.  It now seems to me impossible to say what makes a good novel.  By any 
up to date aesthetic theory it must be pleasurable on the conscious 
level but there must be something below the surface that hurts and 
strips us bare. It must partake of the sublime.

I don't know how the Kindly Ones would fit into this formulation.  i 
remember reading at the book a while with some fascination, then 
dropping it, having had enough.  An arresting thing was that the 
protagonist's atrocious actions weren't driven as much by some 
preexisting insanity (although his life long mental health was always 
suspect)  but rather he was made nuts by his atrocious behavior, all 
done out what he perceived as his duty.  This doesn't quite strip one 
bare and shatter any delusions but it's a start I guess.  The author 
obviously has talent.

I'm not sure about the Recognitions.  Gaddis is funny and pleasurable if 
not particularly easy to read. I've never really caught up with  it's 
purported search for the real despite all the counterfeiting business.  
That may be because the real is really hard to identify.  I think the 
author may have started off thinking his reading of Frazer about 
scapegoating revealed something really corrupt in modern society and 
ended up with quite an accomplished satirical novel that saud something 
quite different.  I don't know exactly what, but . . .

I like Philip Roth.  He's funny, which is pleasurable, and there is 
constant struggle with social forces, his family, his women, etc. Other 
good novels I've read lately were The Finkler Question and Super Sad 
True Love Story. Also The Ask.  All dealing with battles against society.

I'm not sure sure I wouldn't quite enjoy a books full of Blicero.  He 
was a pretty marvelous creation.

P






> rich
>
> On Sat, May 7, 2011 at 10:35 AM, Paul Mackin<mackin.paul at verizon.net>  wrote:
>> On 5/6/2011 12:38 PM, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:
>>> I hear Pollyanna's a thought-provoking read.
>>>
>>> Laura
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Jed Kelestron<jedkelestron at gmail.com>
>>>> Sent: May 6, 2011 1:29 PM
>>>> To: pynchon -l<pynchon-l at waste.org>
>>>> Subject: Re: The Recognitions
>>>>
>>>> I always had trouble reading Dante's Inferno and Faust because they
>>>> were so damned negative, too. These highbrow authors need to lighten
>>>> up.
>> Two very good ironic comments.
>>
>> How's a serious novel supposed to help disabuse us of the  inauthenticity in
>> our thinking brought about by the exigences of civilization if it can't
>> inflict some pain and suffering on the reader?
>>
>> Why do we read if it's not to be strengthened,  toughened up?
>>
>> Didn't Pynchon say somewhere he didn't want his books to be easy to read?
>>
>> P
>>