the Merle center

[Heikki Raudaskoski]

On Tue, 28 Feb 2012, barbie gaze wrote:

> The reality and fictionality of characters is an essential concern of all
> Pynchon works. I'm a bit surprized to read that P-List readers of Pynchon's
> works find fault with the massive AGtD on the grounds that it has no
> central character or consciousness or whatever. Pynchon has, as Paul noted,
> improved his writing over the years; he is a better writer in AGtD than in
> GR or M&D  (I won't include V. because it is his first novel and he is not
> yet a mature and great writer early on, and I'll skip over the California
> series because these are not serious efforts), but he has alos improved his
> story-telling and his characterizations.


Hmm, perhaps the basic reason why AtD doesn't work for me is that I find
it lackadaisical. It's as if it tries to actualize "weak interaction" or
some such in both its story-telling and characterizations, and it may well
succeed in that. I, nostalgic, miss GR's intersubjective magnetisms and
gravities. And besides gravity, GR has gravity-fighting lightness that in
my view is not to be confused with AtD's overall feebleness. These
qualities I see in GR also make its narrative and characterizations work
for me much better than those of AtD. But maybe I really should reread AtD.


Heikki