(np) novel as many time pad

[Paul Mackin]

On 1/31/2012 12:12 PM, Mark Kohut wrote:
> I identify.
>
> Literature/fiction must give us a form of ourselves, our world, so we
> all can refer to it in shorthand.

Good observation.

Maybe this is why the p-list always seems to pick up momentum when the 
topic is lists of favorite novels, bands, movies, etc.

We like to talk about who we are, and favorite lists is a super 
convenient way to do this.

P
>
> Meaning like this might be part of Murakami's major metaphor in 1Q84.
>
>   
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Michael Bailey<michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
> To: P-list<pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Cc:
> Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 10:17 AM
> Subject: (np) novel as many time pad
>
> every so often I imagine myself giving a first lecture in an intro lit
> class, which I have always thought should be an apologia for reading
> fiction...
>
> while it probably bears the same resemblance to a real lecture as on
> Married With Children when Ed O'Neill dons a longhaired wig and
> introduces himself as Axl Bundy...how about this --
>
> Everyone is familiar with cryptography and Bletchley Park and how to
> keep people from understanding your messages.  One of the hardest
> forms of encryption to crack is the one-time pad, which by
> prearrangement can almost always prevent decryption.
>
> An even more important problem than limiting the people understanding
> communication is the opposite problem: how to make a larger number of
> people understand each other's messages more thoroughly.
>
> A novel can function as a many-time pad, which with increasing use
> reveals more and more to a larger number of people, so that eventually
> references to the work can communicate more in fewer words...such
> as...
>
>
> etcetera etcetera, mutatis mutandis
>
>