Saunders on TRP

[malignd at aol.com]

Thank you for this.


 This is called a straw man argument.





-----Original Message-----
From: Markekohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>
To: Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>
Cc: P-list List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Thu, Mar 27, 2014 11:48 am
Subject: Re: Saunders on TRP


Seconded. 

Sent from my iPad

On Mar 27, 2014, at 10:50 AM, Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net> wrote:

> The essence of most crappy arguments designed to dismiss or discredit what 
someone says is by misrepresenting it.  This is called a straw man argument. The 
quote below is the only place where Saunders mentions the word Buddhist. He in 
no way says or implies that Pynchon is a Buddhist but that  he, GS, perceives 
writing  which includes the" infinity of forms" that " the world is capable of 
producing" to have " something... about this approach" that is Buddhist. To say 
a writing style has traits which one perceives as Buddhist is far from claiming 
the writer is a Buddhist and his point is completely different. His point has to 
do with the openness and diversity of forms that gives Pynchon's work a sense of 
really reflecting the perceived complexity and diversity of life experience in 
the world. The rest of what amalice tries to put in GS's mouth( angels, 
conversion)  is just gluing wings to the straw man.
> 
> "In Pynchon, anything is fair game—if it is in the world, it can go in the 
book. To me there is something Buddhist about this approach, which     seems to 
say that since the world is capable of producing an infinity of forms, the novel 
must be capable of accommodating an infinite  number of forms. All aesthetic 
concerns (style, form, structure) answer this purpose: Let in the world. "     
George Saunders
> 
> As far as gushy and not deep or critical, this is not a critique, a review, or 
an essay. It is a very brief statement of qualities that GS finds unique and 
engaging and transformative. In other words what we have here is a short 
description of why he likes Pynchon's work, and really nothing more. 
> 
> On Mar 27, 2014, at 8:41 AM, alice malice wrote:
>> ... But what he 
>> has to say is useless beceasue he's wrong.
>> 
>> The notion that Pynchon is a Buddhist or some such
>> nonsense, or that he is somehow aloof or beyond the western problems
>> his characters wrestle with, that he is an angel who wrestles with
>> angels and defeats them by some kind of Eastern conversion seems to
>> miss the point.
>> 
>> As Elvis sez, We're caught in a trap....
>> -
>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
> 
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
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