pynchon also said that he was doing so many drugs while writing GR that he has no idea what it's about.
--- On Fri, 8/28/09, Michael Jeter <michael.damian.jeter@gmail.com> wrote:
From: Michael Jeter <michael.damian.jeter@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: "Inherent Vice" and Other Pynchon novels
To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, August 28, 2009, 5:46 PM
V works for me as a short story collection, but I cannot follow the novel,
and I am not inspired to try again.
The teacher I studied the novel under quoted a Pynchon interview where he
said, if I understood him correctly, ultimately V doesn´t mean anything.
I´m willing to take the author at his word.
On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 3:55 PM, Jack Bludis <buildsnburns@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
> I wanted to like this book, intended to like this book, and thought I would
> like this book, but I reached the end of Chapter Eleven and gave up. I
> wanted to give up earlier.
>
> I tried to stay with it, but the bouncing anachronisms were too much for me
> to take. It felt that Pynchon was trying to wing his history in an "I was
> there so what the fuck difference does it make what you think" kind of way.
> I can't attribute his motives, only his results, and that was how it felt to
> me. It also felt that the cause was lack of research rather than an attempt
> at post-modern construction.
>
> As for the characters? From the very beginning, I didn't care about them, I
> could not get emotionally involved with them, and they weren't quirky or
> funny enough to hold my attention.
>
> I suppose I could go on and and on, repeating variations on my basic theme,
> but I just didn't like the book enough to stay with it.
>
> By the time I reached page fifty, I wanted to know why this guy was
> perceived to be a great writer. I went to Amazon.com and read the opening of
> several of his other books as well as their reviews. The writing in the
> opening paragraphs of "V," "Gravity's Rainbow," "Against the Day," "The
> Crying of Lot 49," "Mason & Dixon," and "Vineland" are excellent, and I may
> be tempted to read another Pynchon even though I remember disliking him in
> the past and not finishing his books.
>
> I even took the radical step of trying to start over--that didn't work
> either.
>
> Of his other books, based on descriptions and Amazon reviews, I might like
> to try "V." Any comments on "V?"
>
> Jack Bludis
>
>
>
-- Michael Damian Jeter New Orleans, LA Literacy, Music, and Democracy[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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