We were all right....Mason & Dixon

Mon Jul 20 22:06:45 CDT 2015

Oops, I keep loosing that decade!  I remember faces better. Although I'm
not an Historian, early 80's internet? Who knows? Post-horn posts in the
pre-dawn 'net???

David Morris

On Monday, July 20, 2015, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
> <javascript:;>> 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
> <javascript:;>> 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
> <javascript:;>> 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 <javascript:;> <
> kelber at mindspring.com <javascript:;>>
> >>> 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 <javascript:;>> 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 <javascript:;>>
> >>>> 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
> <javascript:;>>
> >>>> > 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
> <javascript:;>>
> >>>> >> 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
> <javascript:;>>
> >>>> >>> 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 <javascript:;>>
> >>>> >>>> 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
> >>>> -
> >>>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>
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