aw. Re: Where did ...

[Bekah]

I picked Vineland up off the local indie bookseller shelf one day in 1996 or so,  and was prompted to buy it because of the Northern California counter-culture element and it seemed like it might be intelligently funny.  I was not disappointed and went on to read Mason & Dixon as soon as it was available in paperback. I really, thoroughly enjoyed that one.   Yes, I think it was the history but also the fantastical elements and the humor.  

At this point, I've read all the books at least once and my favorite is Against the Day -  quite possibly because of the history but also because I appreciate the way Pynchon spins a good multifaceted yarn and the way he strings his words together.  

Also yes, I sense a distinct anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist sensibility in much of Pynchon's work. 

 I have no idea if I'm typical or not.

Bekah



On Sep 23, 2011, at 4:29 PM, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:

> The easiest way to identify Pynchon readers (or potential Pynchon readers) is by their cross-section of interests which (I think) must include most of the following: science, math, sci-fi, history, pop culture, music, and politics.  There've been arguments on the list over whether Pynchon's politics are necessarily progressive (I vote yes), though I think it would be hard to make the case that he's an American conservative.   Of course, his main attraction is his ability to write a sentence that sends the reader's mind in several directions at once.  But that seems to be a bonus for those who read him, rather than the thing that would attract a first-time reader.
> 
> Inherent Vice disappointed many (though not all) of us, because it hit too few of the above-listed areas of interest.  It was particularly lacking in math and science.  Can you love Pynchon without having at least an interest in math, science or at least, the science-y?  Possibly, but less likely. 
> 
> Laura
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Paul Mackin 
> Sent: Sep 23, 2011 4:13 PM 
> To: Matthew Cissell , pynchon-l at waste.org 
> Subject: Re: aw. Re: Where did ... 
> 
> 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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