aw. Re: Where did ...

[Paul Mackin]

Matthew

I do find your area of research interesting.

Pynchon does seem to hold a unique kind of position in the American 
consciousness.  Maybe it's a little like the one James Joyce and T. S. 
Eliot held in the thirties.  I feel sure there must have been New Yorker 
cartoons about women coming and going and forging things in the smithy 
of one's soul.

Actually, outside of the p-list, I presently only know and am in contact 
with one  person who admits to reading Pynchon, and only GR.  He is very 
well read and seems to understand about everything.   I don't know 
exactly what he gets from Pynchon. Perhaps the impossibility of 
controlling destiny through knowledge.  No social prestige issues.

Reading Pynchon for me has become a habit, formed since joining the 
p-list back in '95.  I had read the previous novels as they came out.  
Perhaps some of my reasons for reading Pynchon were originally 
sociological (I did operate in more intellectual circles back then) , 
but cultural capital has had no negotiable value for me  in decades. I 
just like good writing.

Keep us posted on your progress.

P






On 9/23/2011 1:56 PM, Matthew Cissell wrote:
> 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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