Group Read

[Mark Kohut]

Well, I'm not much of a Ford fan--Maybe Rock Springs, is that the
name?--and some stories. I'm with Colson W. re their spat. He has a
guy still say Negro way beyond its expiration date in Lay of the Land. With
no character reason that he would, if I remember and got to
the correct bottom of it. His 'major' books will date faster than Booth
Tarkinton's in fact, they already have. (PS I would also like to know
the why of his break-up with the legendary editor. I'd like to think it was
over "Negro"---big joke at the end here, folks, but the No One
Will Say Anything Break-up was real)

And, so I don"t get this... Why is it "cheating?"....they are necessary
challenges; challenges of showing a vision of multiple folk
coming together with inevitable tensions, etc.....the density of a holiday
and its personal traditions is like the density of America that James
knew we lacked. Hard to show deep historical and social truths and a
complexity of embedded yet willful actions. Which is
what great writers need to be great.

But, anyway, this seems more irrelevant to Pynchon than supposed social
realists to me. V with Benny's not-familiar-baggage Christmas Eve
refutes that remark. And he could have started M & D as good as anywhere,
right?

And it is the author's vision of the holidays that matters, that always
matters most, not that one can do them cheatingly. If one can, that is why
they will date. Simple riding-on-the-holiday coattails is a sure
prescription for weakness in a book.

More on P & Christmas when I have more time.


On Thu, Dec 21, 2017 at 2:10 PM, Smoke Teff <smoketeff at gmail.com> wrote:

> Re Christmas...
>
> Your question, Mark, reminds me of something Richard Ford once said. He
> was talking about his trilogy of Frank Bascombe novels, each of which is
> set on an American holiday.
>
> He said something like...
>
> American holidays come loaded with so much tradition and received meaning,
> that they inflect everything and everyone they touch with a kind of
> powerful spirit, a reaction to/against the holiday itself. He describes
> setting a novel on a holiday as almost like authorial cheating, raising the
> stakes for characters and readers alike.
>
> On Thu, Dec 21, 2017 at 12:13 PM, Mike Sauve <mpsauve at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> This is a huge overgeneralization, but the whole pre-America portion is
>> the most forgivable during which to suspend the "why" question. It's also
>> when it will come up the most, but upon first read, unless you're the type
>> to research and make notes of every page for that kind of
>> comprehension--it's this part you can just let wash over you, enjoy the
>> repartee, the jokes, etc. The East India Company and Clive of Fucking India
>> and all that is contextually important, but if you're not 100% clear on the
>> forces at work in the beginning, know that the narrative gains a far
>> greater cohesion and clarity once they reach the good old US of A.
>>
>> On Thu, Dec 21, 2017 at 10:08 AM, L E Bryan <lebryan at sonic.net> wrote:
>>
>>> I seem to always get stuck on “WHY?” questions.
>>>
>>> But, of course there is that favorite advent section of GR with Roger
>>> and Jessica. I read it out loud to my friends - when I have any that will
>>> tolerate my idiosyncrasies  - or just to myself around this time of year.
>>>
>>> Lawrence, who started M&D again, last night…
>>>
>>>
>>> > On Dec 21, 2017, at 2:08 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> >
>>> > Simple banal observation which, like everything in this great writer,
>>> > can lead to good discussion:
>>> >
>>> > V and M & D begin in winter, near Christmas. Seemingly P's favorite
>>> holiday.
>>> >
>>> > True? and why?
>>>
>>> -
>>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
>>>
>>
>>
>
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