https://www.internationalpynchonweek.org/conference-program?fbclid=IwAR3fAQX-rs2SbFbi-oax4yvXGTyCYuyh-ev5MGDesy5-WfnJnXT4RdWHoz8

[David Morris]

Jerky, my friend,

You and I are built very differently, it seems to me (which surprises me):

 I held back when you stated:

*“Mason & Dixon, for example, is arguably the superior work [to GR].”*

Were you begging for an argument, I wondered?  And then you said, “it took
me well over 20 false starts with Gravity's Rainbow.”  And I thought,
“Oh! *special
needs.*” 😝

And then you said, “it took me about a half dozen runs at V. to get past
"that" chapter.”  And I figured, “Well, the first step…”

As for ATD, I’m just finishing my second read, and am enjoying it, but also
of a double mind (which fits, if you have Icelandic Spar spectacles).  I’ve
been a bit impatient with it, because I truly believe it needed a strict
editor to force Pynchon to reduce it by about 1/3 it’s length.  But it is
richly written, and it has a cast of well-developed characters.  If the
goal was an encompassing science-spiritual-existential-political structure,
I think it constantly pokes at those things, but never with anything near
conclusiveness.  Lots of hopeful speculations, but also with a gentle
cynicism.

But it’s far better than BE (and VL, and IV, and COL49) if that is of any
relief.  And if this group was willing to take on MD, I’d be all the way in.

*David Morris*

On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 5:44 PM Mark Thibodeau <jerkyleboeuf at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Man, I hate to admit this, but I have yet to read Against the Day.
>
> I just can't wrap my head around the basic identity of the thing if that
> makes any sense, and that's something I kind of need to be able to do with
> a novel before I tackle the actual reading part.
>
> Also, I'm not the brightest bulb in the marquee, so while I read Lot 49,
> Vineland and Inherent Vice without difficulty, it took me about a half
> dozen runs at V. to get past "that" chapter (Stencil's quick change
> chapter), it took me well over 20 false starts with Gravity's Rainbow (and
> now I know the first fifty pages or so by heart), about the same for Mason
> & Dixon. As for Bleeding Edge, I quit at the third awful sex scene, and
> have yet to get back to it. I realize the group read would have been a good
> opportunity to fill that Pynchonian lacuna, but I just had too much going
> on when y'all started.
>
> Jerky
>
> Jerky
>
> On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 9:50 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Agreed.
> >
> > And *Against the Day* is the largest and richest of all. But not as
> > perfect as those two.
> >
> > Mark
> >
> > On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 9:42 AM Mark Thibodeau <jerkyleboeuf at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Agreed.
> >>
> >> Pynchon has masterworks to spare. And GR has already been thoroughly
> >> explored.
> >>
> >> Mason & Dixon, for example, is arguably the superior work.
> >>
> >> Jerky
> >>
> >> On Thu., Mar. 24, 2022, 9:35 a.m. rich, <richard.romeo at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>
> >>> program is interesting in GR is hardly the subject of any, if at all,
> >>> which
> >>> is a good thing
> >>>
> >>> rich
> >>>
> >>> On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 4:22 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>>
> https://www.internationalpynchonweek.org/conference-program?fbclid=IwAR3fAQX-rs2SbFbi-oax4yvXGTyCYuyh-ev5MGDesy5-WfnJnXT4RdWHoz8
> >>> > --
> >>> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >>> >
> >>> --
> >>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >>>
> >>
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>