Journal article
Gravity's rainbow golden sections
Pynchon Notes, Vol.20-21, pp.31-38
1987
Abstract
Elsewhere, I have tried to argue that quotations, like statistics, can easily be extracted to muster evidence for whatever "coherence," "logic," or "position" their manipulator wants to find anyway. A possible counter-position to this is explored in this paper. I try to show a critical reading of a fictional work can be constructed from passages which have been selected not on the basis of their support for a particular preconstructed argument but on random, or at least thematically unmotivated grounds. At the risk of self-defeat, to cite Gravity's rainbow itself now: the "debate" between Mexico and Pointsman (89-91), assuming we side with the former, the text's own clear favourite, would support a probabilistic reading over one founded on cause (predetermined theme) and effect (quoted passage). Another reason for selecting textual samples first (rather than selecting them later to support a pre-given reading) is that it avoids what is rapidly becoming, in the case of Gravity's rainbow at least, a "canon" of Pynchon quotables.
Details
- Title
- Gravity's rainbow golden sections
- Authors/Creators
- A. McHoul (Author/Creator)
- Publication Details
- Pynchon Notes, Vol.20-21, pp.31-38
- Publisher
- University of Miami
- Identifiers
- 991005544422007891
- Copyright
- 1987 John M. Krafft, Khachig Tololyan, Bernard Duyfhuizen
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Media, Communication and Culture
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publisher URL
- http://www.ham.muohio.edu/~krafftjm/pynchon.html
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