Kudos for Albert Rolls

[Raphael Saltwood]

Extensive research, impressive writing!

Illuminating some facets - and raising some new questions - that hadn’t occurred to me, especially about Takeshi and Hector, Bigfoot and Doc, & TRP vis a vis his characters.

Made me want to revisit his book (and add a review, I keep meaning to):

https://www.powells.com/book/thomas-pynchon-9781912224555

Actually I had a local Indy order it, but do source from Powells on other occasions.

Not sure why Mr Rolls’s name, or the title, isn’t in the url. Cheaper at Amazon & BN of course. No e-version as of yet.

I was impressed by the explications of early work & juvenilia, the daunting task of relating the work to the [scantily documented] person, the quantity of new (to me) information about the person, the gracious and respectful tone throughout.

Main reason I want to reread is I want to grapple with the theses a little more.

Iirc, sensationalistic claims and point-hammering

 - which are all too common in my own writing (& probably also my thinking,) -

 Were refreshingly absent!

Which made it harder for me to exactly grok in fullness what it was he was claiming, & where those thoughts might lead, & what responses my analytic engine (that struggle-buggy) might proffer.



Contents

Acknowledgements ix

Note on the text xi

Fictional Autobiographies & Autobiographical Fictions  1

A Dual Man [and Oeuvre], Aimed Two Ways at Once”: The Two Directions of Pynchon’s Life and Thought 21
(With additional material)

Considering the Enclave 71

Epilogue 99

Endnotes 101

Bibliography 137

Index 153


Rich wrote:


Howdy

stumbled upon this fine article on Pynchon's insider/outsider dilemmas.
worth a read

Rich

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307712010_A_Dual_Man_and_Oeuvre_Aimed_Two_Ways_at_Once_The_Two_Directions_of_Pynchon's_Life_and_Thought/fulltext/5a21159baca272ab5a6230f3/A-Dual-Man-and-Oeuvre-Aimed-Two-Ways-at-Once-The-Two-Directions-of-Pynchons-Life-and-Thought.pdf