aw. Re: Where did ...

[Matthew Cissell]

Paul,
 
    Then you might find my area of research interesting; don't worry, I won't go into it. However, in the future you and other P-listers may be able to help answer questions about who reads TP, why he's always short-listed for the Nobel and yet few seem to know of him (i hope to show this in my research) despite having been on the Simpsons, and other mind bending Pynchon puzzles.
    About the question of status ascension (or acquiring cultural capital), I submit two bits from THe Onion (humor often unveils what otherwise would remain covered). "Pretentious Congressman to be Sworn in Using Thomas Pynchon Novel" 05.28.07. And, "Man Reading Pynchon on Bus Takes Pains to Make Cover Visible" Dec 20, 2000. Would this be funny if we substituted the name for some other Nobel short lister? Or a canonic author (eg James Joyce)?
    I look forward to talking more to you about this.
 
Ciao
MCC
From: Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at verizon.net>
To: pynchon-l at waste.org
Sent: Friday, September 23, 2011 6:07 PM
Subject: Re: aw. Re: Where did ...


On 9/23/2011 6:27 AM, Kai Frederik Lorentzen wrote: 

>Matthew,
>
>Wasn't it me who asked about your Bourdieu approach to Pynchon here when all the other people
>did not even give a damn?
>
>Personally  I'm certainly among the very few P-lister who have neither anything against French theory nor against the sociology of literature. 
>
>So I do not quite get why you behave like you do. Is it because I'm not 100% in agreement with you 
>on each and every detail? If so, I suggest you join a list of parrots. 
>
>I also think that my contribution on Mann's sources for "Doktor Faustus" could be helpful
>(if you already knew about Mann's lifelong work on Nietzsche or his collaboration with Adorno, this wasn't recognizable from your mail, and then it's not a private letter exchange between you and me).
>
>You read a lot of Bourdieu, but you're not a learned sociologist; this makes it difficult for you to see certain problems in Bourdieu's approach, especially the oversimplified concept of agency.
>
>Let me, nevertheless, say that I think your research project sounds promising. Always thought that 'literary field'  is a key term for the sociology of literature. 
>
>Just out of curiosity: Was there anybody else on this list who discussed with you sociology of literature in general and Bourdieu in particular?
>
>Perhaps you think it over for a while and then try again ;-) 
>

Not to necessarily claim precedence but I have long held that Bourdieu is the guy to go to when it comes to understanding why so few read Pynchon.

No matter how assiduously one reads the long, erudite, many-times-obscure, works, it does not seem to increase one's status in society one iota.

:-)













>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY-yMPd4LYc
>
>
>
>On 22.09.2011 23:22, Matthew Cissell wrote:
>
>
>Und der Haifisch, der hat Zähne/ Und die trägt er im Gesicht.
>> 
>>Typisch, Kai. Sehr typisch. 
>>Shark, Shark!   (Yawn.)
>>Please continue.
>> 
>>
>>
>
>
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