SLPAD - modest to a fault

[Mark Kohut]

Not to this reader....of course he tries to be funny (with right
timing...that 'even canceled checks' line)
but this is as straightforward as it reads, imo.....I have read tens and
tens of such......writers commenting
on their early work....the point of Slow Learner as a book is to get into
print for readers, most new, the stories
he wants remembered by--and his later mature opinions of them.....

Nothing wrong with 'flawed' when you're honest about it....

On Thu, Feb 16, 2023 at 3:24 AM Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Note on pagination - I’m not going to worry much about it
>
>
> Shorter quote:
> “there are some mighty tiresome passages here, juvenile and delinquent too.
> At the same time, my best hope is that, pretentious, goofy and
> ill-considered as they get now and then, these stories will still be of use
> with all their flaws intact, as illustrative of typical problems in
> entry-level fiction, and cautionary about some practices which younger
> writers might prefer to avoid.”
>
>
> Basically, is this praising with loud damn or what?
>
> Also - positioning this as a “what not to do” guide to younger writers -
> what kind of tactic is this for an introduction?
>
>
> It’s like, ok - we’re leaving the flaws intact
>
> - so there are presumably some parts that aren’t flaws
>
> - but his “best hope” is that the stories <taken as a whole> will be of use
> as “illustrative of…problems…and cautionary about…practices which younger
> writers might prefer to avoid.”
>
>
> Is he being funny - because that’s one way to read it. If these stories are
> points on a curve that traces through _V._, _CoL49_, and _GR_ then…
> how come “avoid?”
> So like I’m sitting here going “yeah right, he’s got his tongue in his
> cheek”
>
> Or y’know, maybe those 11 years between GR and SL were fraught with dubiety
> & that’s what he really thinks - or did when he wrote it.
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>