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Originally Posted by Dr. Drib
BUT, if you wish to read Pynchon, then I would suggest you start with the more accessible The Crying of Lot 49.
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You probably weren't addressing me, but
The Crying of Lot 49 is the first book that people read in a postmodern lit class, and rightly so. In fact, I got a lit. professor at NYU, who is also a sax player, to stop teaching Kerouac in his postmodern class and to teach Pynchon's novel instead. The idea that Kerouac is a literary jazz musician is false, I maintained. Kerouac doesn't riff on changes, as a jazz musician does; there's no comparable exploration of structure to that of Coltrane soloing on "Giant Steps" or McCoy Tyner riffing on "My Favorite Things." Whereas Pynchon really does riff on the myth of Oedipus, in
49, as though myths were jazz charts. The professor agreed and I had the satisfaction of knowing that Kerouac would not be taught as the literary equivalent of jazz. I've been a studio musician all my life and I've always hated that assertion.
But to respond to what seems to be your larger point:
My post consisted of a single sentence: "Then again,
Gravity's Rainbow." I was careful not to say more because this is a thread about horror bargains. Was that not evident?
I was doing my best not to steer people off-course while quietly suggesting that it is perhaps impractical to expect everyone to avoid writing in present tense. Some books have to be written that way even if readers don't like it. And some authors have to write that way even if
nearly everyone doesn't like it.
I think I understand the sentiment. I feel the same way about pointless time dislocations in otherwise conventional linear novels and films. I think it's a mannerism that will look stale in the future. But there might be books and flicks that have to be written that way;
Time's Arrow and
The Shining Girls come to mind.
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Pynchon is highly regarded in the academic world. HOWEVER, (IMHO), I feel Mobileread is mainly a genre-focused forum - which is perfectly fine! - and has also become (in the last 2-3 years) a programmers' delightful darling - which is also fine. There just may not be that many adherents to literary fiction here to sustain an active discussion or interest of postmodernism.
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This last bit concerns me. I am a member of MobileRead and have been for nearly ten years. Here's what I've never said out of respect for other forum members and their enjoyment of books they love: I despise most genre fiction. It's sentence that I hope never to write here again.
Are you really saying that I should be silent about the books I read and love while everyone talks about books that, most of the time, I hate? I can't think of another forum about books in general where I would be discouraged from even
mentioning Pynchon in a single-sentence post.
The other issue is more concerning:
I worry that you are advocating forum-enforced anti-intellectual snobbery -- not only towards me, but, by default, toward members like Pynch (guess where his name comes from?), whose editions of difficult modernist writers in multiple languages have drawn nothing but praise from MR members.
I have tried not to derail threads with my own interests where they are not appropriate (such as this thread, where I'm sorry to have to leave this post). But anti-intellectualism can be a murderous force. People who react strongly against what they don't understand or don't know can make life cruel and difficult, and I have no choice but to stand against the intimation that we can only talk about genre books on MR.
Yes, you were careful to say I probably wouldn't find good conversations about postmodern lit on MR. I appreciate your care in making that distinction rather than forbidding me outright to talk about books I love.
But the inference that I shouldn't even mention someone like Thomas Pynchon here is troubling. I've always found you witty and welcoming, and wondered about possible connections we might share to people like Ivan Stang and Paul Mavrides. So it saddens me to have to talk to you of all people about this.
If you'd rather I talk to you about this privately, then let me know and I'll message you. If so, feel free to delete this post.