Teaching Pynchon

[ish mailian]

David,
A typical college course for undergraduates that would include a book
like GR would have prerequisites, but pre-reading or an encounter of
any kind with Pynchon would not be a prerequisite. Also, the course
would likely include several other novels and intertextual readings.
My experiences teaching Pynchon have been no better and no worse than
teaching other long and difficult works. Getting students to read
anything these days is a challenge,  even at the "best" schools where
the students are majoring in literature.

On Mon, Feb 15, 2021 at 8:53 PM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> How many weeks is a typical Spring or Fall college semester?  Fifteen?
> Do college courses require prerequisites for Pynchon classes? Doing GR
> study w/o strict prerequisites, like having read it at least a year prior,
> is a malfeasance of practice, in my opinion.
>
> Which brings us to V.  A lovely novel and probably a good sized text for a
> college semester.  It is in spirit and structure GR’s premier.  Easier, but
> still quite complex, with loads of archetypal bones.  I would even suggest
> V for high schoolers, with parental approval, of course.
>
> David Morris
> --
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