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Still reading Pynchon’s latest? Go here.

Maximus Clarke, more commonly known in these parts as Mr. Maud, starts off the Pynchon Roundtable discussion. If you’re still making your way through the book, don’t worry: they’re discussing it in sections. So follow along at Metaxucafé, and maybe even heat things up by starting an argument in the comments. From Max’s dispatch: I had to work up some . . .

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Biblical translation: the seed, or the offspring?

The Five Books of Moses. Unfortunately, I couldn’t even remember the word “philology,” much less pronounce it, in that context. Instead, I babbled about “seed,” progeny and semen until someone silenced me by refilling my glass.   Alter’s rendition of the Pentateuch is impressive enough — James Wood calls it “a monument of scholarship” — that I thought I’d excerpt . . .

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