We were all right....Mason & Dixon

Mon Jul 20 21:52:35 CDT 2015

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/252261.Lineland

On Mon, Jul 20, 2015 at 9:51 PM, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com> wrote:
> https://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9201&sort=date
>
> On Mon, Jul 20, 2015 at 9:44 PM, John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 80s? I thought the list started in the 90s. How old is this thing, really?
>>
>> On Tue, Jul 21, 2015 at 12:36 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Flame wars were common, but detracted mostly. Follow the archives from the
>>> early 80's. The good old days.  Extremely high discourse was not rare. The
>>> Internet being slower then was a good thing.  I also remember back then all
>>> these "off list" private recruitment for sides or denouncements.  At first I
>>> resisted those tugs at my alliegance, but jumped cannonball into the pool
>>> not long after. It's been about 20 years or more now.  Still fun, and still
>>> today discussion here can be impressive in its scope and depth and
>>> diversity.
>>>
>>> David Morris
>>>
>>> On Monday, July 20, 2015, kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Think a raging flame war would've held people's interest. We erred on the
>>>> side of civility. And all those competing facebook pages don't help!
>>>>
>>>> Laura
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> There were lots of successful group reads in the past.
>>>>
>>>> I blame the changing culture of the internet. Back then there just
>>>> wasn't that much to do online, so more people could spend an hour or
>>>> three with a book and a browser and a leisurely mind.
>>>>
>>>> Of course I'm romanticising but in the global shopping mall that the
>>>> Deep Archer and most of the web has become, the P-List is a rag and
>>>> bone shop. If we had more funny quizzes, lists like the Six Most
>>>> Amazing Ways Pynchon Will Improve Your Sex Life, ways to tag each
>>>> other in emails, ability to autogenerate our favourite P characters as
>>>> avatars, some kind of dedicated app, a gamified reward system that
>>>> gave us badges for posting more, a font of our own, a Game of Thrones
>>>> crossover week, a photo feed and sold advertising space that can be
>>>> blocked so users think that the real product isn't our data, maybe
>>>> we'd have a chance? Seriously, why isn't someone selling our data
>>>> here? We're nothing!
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Jul 21, 2015 at 6:36 AM, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> > I blame myself.  I was simply in no condition to participate on a
>>>> > regular basis @ the time.
>>>> >
>>>> > Meanwhile, some day, the Inherent Vice group watch?
>>>> >
>>>> > http://pdl.warnerbros.com/wbmovies/awards2014/pdf/iv.pdf
>>>> >
>>>> > On Mon, Jul 20, 2015 at 1:46 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
>>>> > wrote:
>>>> >> When enough are not newly reading and responding, the silence is loud.
>>>> >> And one needs to be following the bouncing ball
>>>> >> when one posts who is, otherwise it is not new.
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Too many too busy or otherwise out of the Group Read. Life in late
>>>> >> capitalism ain't easy.
>>>> >>
>>>> >> On Mon, Jul 20, 2015 at 2:34 PM, David Ewers <dsewers at comcast.net>
>>>> >> wrote:
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>> I believe you're on to something with why the group read fizzled, Mark
>>>> >>> T.,
>>>> >>> although I think we had it going pretty good for a while there.  I'm
>>>> >>> not
>>>> >>> sure it's impossible to maintain that managed flow-through you
>>>> >>> describe, but
>>>> >>> (speaking for myself) it does seem to require some obsessing to do the
>>>> >>> discussion justice.  It's tough to be obsessed for several months
>>>> >>> straight.
>>>> >>> Maybe we should have built some time-outs into the schedule?
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>> Out of curiosity, is anyone still giving M-&D- the deep reading
>>>> >>> treatment?
>>>> >>> If so, where are you?
>>>> >>> I've slowed down a lot in my M-&D- reading, lightened up some, picked
>>>> >>> up
>>>> >>> other books, etc., but I've got notes up to chapter 35.
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>> I hope everyone (in the Northern Hemisphere...) is having a bitchin'
>>>> >>> summer!
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>> On Jul 19, 2015, at 11:44 AM have a nice day, violet wrote this
>>>> >>> message:),
>>>> >>> Mark Thibodeau wrote:
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>> I think the reason why group reads of Pynchon tend to break down (and
>>>> >>> I say
>>>> >>> this with a guilty conscience at my own part in the unraveling of the
>>>> >>> last
>>>> >>> M&D group read attempt) is that his work is SO RICH and full of
>>>> >>> constant,
>>>> >>> almost fractal levels of allusion and multi-contextual referencing
>>>> >>> (moreso
>>>> >>> perhaps than any writer aside from Joyce) that trying to maintain some
>>>> >>> kind
>>>> >>> of managed flow-through is literally impossible to do.
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>> Any reader takes from a work of art only that which he or she is
>>>> >>> capable of
>>>> >>> taking. We all bring our own personal contexts into some kind of
>>>> >>> intermeshing with the context of the work that we're approaching.
>>>> >>> Someone
>>>> >>> steeped in pre-Revolutionary American history will have a different
>>>> >>> reading
>>>> >>> experience from someone who knows a lot about, say, the history of
>>>> >>> science.
>>>> >>> Both will find it a masterwork, but for different reasons.
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>> For that reason, I think Pynchon slots in with those writers who are
>>>> >>> both
>>>> >>> difficult AND rewarding.
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>> MT
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>> On Sun, Jul 19, 2015 at 2:33 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
>>>> >>> wrote:
>>>> >>>>
>>>> >>>> Misc.
>>>> >>>>
>>>> >>>> just read an interesting essay by Stanley Greenblatt, Shakespeare and
>>>> >>>> Beyond
>>>> >>>> Scholar---this essay is on Milton, however---that applies to many a
>>>> >>>> great
>>>> >>>> writer
>>>> >>>> including our writer from Long Island.......
>>>> >>>>
>>>> >>>> Thesis: The depth of full scholarship analysis of such as Milton, say
>>>> >>>> another
>>>> >>>> long book on all the subtleties and breadth and depth of his politics
>>>> >>>> explored thru
>>>> >>>> his major poems......tends to kill why he is great.....
>>>> >>>>
>>>> >>>> The poetry on the page.
>>>> >>>>
>>>> >>>> Discuss.
>>>> >>>>
>>>> >>>> On Sun, Jul 19, 2015 at 2:07 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
>>>> >>>> wrote:
>>>> >>>> > is an incredible book....
>>>> >>>> >
>>>> >>>> > Throw out more stuff about....
>>>> >>>> -
>>>> >>>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>>
>>>> >> -
>>>> >> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>>>> > -
>>>> > Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>>>> -
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