Slow Learner

[ish mailian]

When it was published we discussed the apparent slow learner allusion.
Consider the allusion in the Luddite essay and, P's 1984 essay, and
the allusion argument is strengthened.



On Fri, Apr 20, 2018 at 5:29 AM, matthew cissell <mccissell at gmail.com> wrote:
> Maybe you folks can recall better than I some of the secondary literature
> and what it proposes about the title for TP's short story collection. Got
> anything? Nothing comes to my mind. I have always thought that the title
> was a bit tongue-in-cheek and not as nuanced and polysemically flexible as
> TP's novel titles. That's changed a bit.
>
>   I do remember some academics noting that SL was published in 1984, but I
> don't recollect anyone connecting it to the novel 1984. However, as I was
> rereading Orwell's dystopian novel I read something that sat me up.
>
>  After Winston has been detained and O'Brien is 'processing' him, there is
> a point when O'Brien says: "You are a slow learner, Winston." Winston
> pleads and explains that he can't help it if his eyes see that "two and two
> are four" He is told that "It is not easy to become sane."
>
> According to the SL intro there are books that were lodestones for the
> young author. Yet I think it is TP's intro to 1984 that shows how deeply he
> appreciated Orwell. Pynchon might love On the Road, but he is closer in
> spirit to Orwell. Seen that way, isn't it likely that putting out his first
> piece in a while (and that a collection of his early work - almost as bad
> as writing a memoir) in the year 1984 would have him thinking of Orwell's
> novel? It was a time of change and risk for the mid-aged author who had
> nothing new since '73.
>
> Ciao
> mc
> --
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