Convocation
The wearing ct formal academic dress on this occasion
serves is a reminder of our union with an academic heritage
whose ceremonial tradition dates from the medieval universi
ty. The varied patterns of cut and color in the dress of faculty
members indicate the level of their degrees, their academic
disciplines and the universities which granted their degrees.
(Photos by Kim Leland;
Professor Studies
Post-Modernist
“Those who have a serious
interest « the writotg «f-
James Joyce or T.S. Eliot will
find in Thomas Pynchon’s
writings many things of in
terest,” says Prof. Carl
Bennett of the English faculty
at St. Andrews Presbyterian
College.
Typical of other post
modernists, which Bennett
describes as writers of the 60s
and 70s, Pynchon moves
easily from gross farcical
comedy to poignancy in a
single paragraph.
Bennett studied Pynchon
during eight weeks this
summer as he participated in
a seminar on “Contemporary
Literature in its Cultural
Context” at the City
University of New York,
where Dr. Morris Dickstein
directed a select group of
literature professors in “the
problems and pleasures
associated with the reading
and teaching of contemporary
literature.”
Intense Study
Because of many ad
ministrative duties, Bennett
explains, his reading in
contemporary writing was
behind, and he welcomed the
summer concentration on this
era. The class read two works
each week, he gave two
reports to the seminar on
Pynchon, they toured
museums, visited art
galleries, attended plays, and
had current writers meeting
with them for discussions.
Bennett terms post
modernist writing as having
very abrupt transitions
without a logical
chronological base, and might
be termed more a
kaleidoscopic view of the
world. “It is a fragmentary
approach to telling a story,”
adds Bennett, “but in it there
is something for everyone,
something to baffle and
perplex everyone.”
Bennett actually began his
post-modernist study in 1977
when he was a Lilly scholar at
Duke University for the
summer.
Recluse Author
In Pynchon he found a
highly sophisticated intdlect
writing excellent work^ b«t
deliberately maintaiq^>i»v
very low profile. Pynchon is
sometimes seen in New Wric,
but refuses to be interviewed,
and his home address is a
closely held matter. ^ .
His first novel in 1963 was
enUHed “V.” (yes, the period
is a part of the title). His
second work in 1966 was “The
Crying of Lot 49,” something
which Bennett says is difficult
to comprehend, and which he
has found colleagues unable
to understand.
But, Bennett is high in
praise of “Gravity’s Rain
bow,” Pynchon’s latest work
which is based much on the V-
2 rockets which troubled
London in late 1944. Werner
vonBraun is one of the
principal characters.
Like James Joyce’s
oiysses,” it is difficult
reading, requiring close at
tention and concentration. It
has also been compared m
style with Herman Melville’s
writing,
“Gravity” tits into ap
classification called “en
cyclopedic narrative,” in
Which the writer exhibits
remarkable facihty with'
several languages, an in
teresting off beat view of
history, and a tremendous
knowledge of modern
scientific investigation and
discovery.
“If you like to be kept off-
balance by a writer, never
knowing which way he will
turn, but at the same time
being entertained and in
structed, then you’ll like
Pynchon,” says Bennett, who
is anxiously awaiting the next
novel of this post-modernist.
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