Beyond the Rainbow

[alice wellintown]

I kinda goofed it up there....didn't mean to suggest that Pynchon was
a Google Wiki or something but the idea is that one can read these
works as satire in the tradition of the European satires that include
the erudition joke--the usher to the librarian, indeed, Ishmael's
obsession with the Word made Whale, is akin to obsession with the
Rocket in GR. Anatomy, M-Satire, these genre terms are useful to an
extent. My axe grinds on the idea that GR is an American form not a
European form and that M-D and C-M are better studied as models than
any European model. These works are not only satires but American
Romances in the tradition of Washingtom Irving, they gather up the
puritan and enlightenment projects that rise like fog and ghosts from
the landscape of that green breast of the world the Dutch Sailors
discovers was comensurate with their capicity to wonder, Vineland the
Good. So Science of whales or of Rockets is the target of satire; that
Pynchon makes his scientists knights and priests, ironic romantic
figures, is an important thing to consider.


> I never really liked "encyclopedic" as a description of a novel.
> a) In a novel, even one where the author goes on and on about
> something, or a number of things,
> there's no pretense of presenting them impartially.  In fact, it's
> important not to.
> b) Yes, oftentimes it's important that the author get facts right, but
> the made-up stuff is the most essential, which is a totally
> non-encyclopedic concept.
>
> However, I really like "A brilliant white problem.  Solve it if you must."
>
> continuing the comparison to encyclopedias,
> a) in an encyclopedia, the problem of selecting and writing up a set
> of facts - gleaned from primary sources - to which people might want
> to refer is implicit in its existence, though it be but scarcely if
> ever referred to in its text.
>
> b) in a novel, the author's solutions to the problems inherent in
> discoursing upon topics of current and more or less lasting interest,
> using the techniques of fiction, in a recognizably unique and
> memorable voice, are offered as a primary source.
>