Forwarded msgs: 4 of 4

[John M. Krafft]

From:	MIAVX2::JMKRAFFT     "John M. Krafft" 21-MAR-1992 11:47:08.08
To:	
CC:	JMKRAFFT    
Subj:	Re: Pynchon and Gibson (again)

X-News: miavx2 alt.cyberpunk:780
From: TRINGHAM at usmv01.usm.uni-muenchen.de (Tringham, Neal)
Subject:Re: Pynchon and Gibson (again)
Date: 20 Mar 92 15:17:24 GMT
Message-ID:<1992Mar20.151724.6662 at news.lrz-muenchen.de>

In <EVENSON.92Mar19170304 at jabberwock.hitl.washington.edu> evenson at hitl.washington.edu writes:

> 
> Having finished _Storming the reality studio:  a casebook of cyberpunk and
> postmodern fiction_, I think you might find this book an interesting
> reference for your questions about the relationship between Gibson and
> Pynchon.

Um, maybe I should. The excerpts I've seen didn't look very interesting, 
though. 

> 
> I don't have the book with me right now, but at some part in the anthology
> in an essay on cyberpunk's relation to postmodernist fiction, someone
> suggests your thesis, namely that Pynchon consciously apes Gibson in
> _Vineland_.  I think there's too little evidence to argue for this, but
> this author suggests a neat image of re-injection, re-proliferation of
> influence across generes and styles.  

Well, yes, except that (given a choice between the things I originally
suggested) I'd go for the `Pynchon and Gibson both picked up on
things that were in the in the air at the time' one. Maybe Pynchon read
Gibson as well; maybe not. I certainly wouldn't suggest that Pynchon
_consciously copied_ Neuromancer, which is a different thing to
`being influenced by'. And yes, for anyone else who thinks I'm spinning
castles from the air, this is entirely about my _perceptions_ of the books
concerned, since I have neither the references nor the energy to
attempt a detailed `proof'... 

Thanks for the suggestion, in any case.

Neal Tringham