Kathyrn Hume on Late Coover

[Paul Mackin]

On 9/7/2012 6:48 AM, alice wellintown wrote:
> >From the excerpt, it seems that the author implies that P celebrates
> anarchist destruction in earlier works. If this is the case, the
> author is wrong. There is no celebration of anarchist destruction in
> the Short Stories or in V. or in GR or M&D or VL. So how is anachy,
> and anarchist destruction, such as the failed attempts of the sick
> crews, from Grover and the boys on, treated in Pynchon's works before
> agtd AND iv?


"Anarchist destruction" seems to be an unfortunate metaphor, possibly 
applicable to GR wherein the generally accepted laws of propriety for 
many readers and l'homme moyen sensuel are disregarded with reckless 
abandon.

The metaphor is unfortunate because a lot of folks regard anarchism, 
regardless of its impracticality and unlikelihood, as a worthy goal.

But what IS total hooey is the idea that a writer's taking on lawful 
wedlock and child raising constitutes any kind of major factor in how he 
or she writes.  A wife is no substitute for a Muse, and children are, 
well. children.  Also, just for example, how do we know the Pyncher 
doesn't find his present domestic situation stifling and boring.  I 
don't think this is the case, but we certainly don't know.

I'll go out on a limb because I'm not any kind of authority on the 
Pynchon Industry.  I just often have thought that group, of which Hume 
is in the leadership, sometimes feels duty bound to make Pynchon more 
"respectable" and in compliance with political correctness than he 
really (hopefully) is.

So . .  . . when I read a passage in AtD that seems a little too gooey 
and sentimental I can still lie back and enjoy it for the sheer great 
writing, knowing full well in my heart of hearts that it remains still 
and forever a vital if more subtle  part of that great conspiracy theory 
that modern existence is.

P



>
>
>
>> "As high postmodernism wanes, some of its leading figures have backed
>> away from the void and have tried to offer partial answers to life's
>> questions and some meaningful values. David Foster Wallace very
>> tentatively seeks an ethic; Pynchon has shifted from complete distrust
>> of every human organization (Gravity's Rainbow) to a strong and
>> arguably sentimental belief in families. Pynchon once felt even the
>> Red Cross could not escape the inherent evil of being an organization,
>> but his latest two novels have shown more acceptance of social
>> realities, and Inherent Vice celebrates negotiating society's
>> obstacles rather than anarchist destruction.