Liss/stepvr but also Molly Hite

[peterthooper at juno.com]

---------- Original Message ----------
From: Thomas Eckhardt <thomas.eckhardt at uni-bonn.de>

Am 19.04.2020 um 06:22 schrieb peterthooper at juno.com:

> It’s a well-written good story with, yes, some background political/social elements, but there’s always some of that sh*t about, bound to appear in any perceptive author’s story.

You couldn't be more wrong.

- it’s not like i didn’t try. (-;

How about this:

For me, that aspect will always be secondary, after the story, because while socio-political stuff embedded in a good tale might make some valid points, fiction embedded in a socio-political tract proves nothing (it’s made up!)

Maybe tertiary, after the prose, because that’s obviously super-important 

or no - quaternary, after the characters, because they engage the emotions & imagination 

or pentateuchly, after the scenery. Among an author’s Rasselas-like qualities, shouldn’t we prize that more highly than arguing for a viewpoint in the shifting political arena in which an author is wont to fare as Christian among lions and ripped Russell-Crowe-lookin’ dudes?

I want a story with a riveting plot, tasty prose, characters to love and hate and love to hate and learn to forgive or see differently than before, and not necessarily a constant barrage of images but at least sometimes some places you can picture.

It may be other things to other people, but that’s what VL is for me.




 As Salman Rushdie says, VL is a major 
political novel.

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/05/18/reviews/pynchon-vineland.html