Difference between revisions of "User talk:WikiAdmin"

Latest revision as of 14:00, 24 June 2007

Hey...what do you think about mirroring the No Spoilers page index on the ATD page linked on the sidebar. Currently only the Alpha index is available from that page. (I didn't want to step on any toes...don't know what you consider off limits for editing.)Ahpsp

Yes, I had mentioned that to Bleakhaus, as it was going to get rather long to just be sitting on the home page, so I think your mentioning this is sufficient for me to get that going. Thanks for that!

WikiAdmin 11:14, 29 November 2006 (PST)

Another navigation notion--currently when one reaches the end of one of the no-spoiler pages, there's no way to go on to the next section of pages without going back to the home page. Could we either get a next button or a full list of at least the page ranges for that section of the novel at the header or footer or something?
Not trying to overwhelm, and if there is someone else handling these types of things, I'd be happy to suggest it to them. The site is shaping up to be grand!Ahpsp 11:32, 30 November 2006 (PST)

Thanks. I will definitely address this today. Doing a next thing would be ideal, although I may just do the quickfix right now which is to add a link to the annotation pages in the side.

And, yeah, it is getting rather good. Very exciting. I'm working at implementing the other novels now, and that shouldn't be too far off.

WikiAdmin 11:43, 30 November 2006 (PST)

I just want to Thank You in Pynchonian Caps for this--and the other wikis. It is becoming a magnificent 'cathedral' of annotation and commentary. I feel like this will guide new readers for decades, some maybe yet unborn. I am proud to have contributed.
One of Pynchon's influences, Henry Adams, wrote of the anonymous workers and craftspeople who built the majestic medieval churches. This is that, time-changed, ala ATD. I will even sign this Anonymous, pretty sure I am speaking for most contributers, maybe all. You know who I am and who you are. Again, Thanks. Anonymous.

Can I express a difference in entitling the interesting-enough bit from today's NYTimes Book Review, Let's Get Cynical? The cover and way ATD was published seems like a respectful compliment to TRP and ATD. First, the title is given equal prominence to his name. Since with many "big books", literary or commercial, it is the author who customers are buying, many "big books" have larger author names than titles. We have discussed TRP's seeming collaboration with a jacket designer he likes and that he had the major hand in it. The colors and quality show great respect for the book as book, I think.
I think I would argue for the post title if: the book had been published, say, as two volumes at a greater price. Or even as is at a higher price---many publishing houses formulas for pricing would yield a higher price for that small type and all those pages. Or, if the cover had been done garishly, or even overdone for effect in any way. [User: MKohut 2/11/2007]

Why not "cynical"? That's what I was being, with a slightly lame pun, indicating that Pynchon's new novel's dustjacket adheres to the book-design zeitgeist. Let's face it, AtD's cover matches that "big book look" to a T. Not that Pynchon was thinking bout that while working with the designer on the cover (and we really have not a clue as to the nature of collaboration -- other than a rather obvious reference to double refraction), but I'm sure the commerciality and "big bookness" of AtD escaped neither the publisher's or the designer's intentions or, at the very least, infiltrated their thinking the way the prevaling styles of the times always will. I think it's a fine cover. You can adhere to the big book look and still have a great looking cover and a cover that gets across what you intend to get across. Book jackets are always going to reflect the tastes, values and commerce of the times. This is not a bad thing. It just is. WikiAdmin 14:36, 11 February 2007 (PST)

"Idiots and Idiocy" page
Thank you for including those definitions. A person incapable of taking part in public life and decisionmaking—that makes an even better cover story than dementia or delusions! The idiot can't be held personally responsible for blunders made by colonels. Holy cow, as soon as I wrote that word, one name popped into my mind: Yossarian. —Volver

Yes, yes. Inspired by an amazing soliloquy at the Tours conference by one Anne Battesti, a supersmart and quite lovely French woman with a British accent who, at the round table discussion, sort of rambled away, touching on a wide variety of Topics for Further Exploration, one of which was the "idiot" in ATD. I'm trying to get her to make a contribution to this new page. Another prof from UK, Peter Vernon, gave an amazing paper on Cricket in ATD. I'm in the process of obtaining that, as well. Shed light on some names as well as other threads in the novel. WikiAdmin 15:00, 24 June 2007 (PDT)