Powers and Pynchon

[WKLJAZZ at aol.com]

On the topic of Powers and Pynchon:

I have just started reading Powers 1993 novel, OPERATION WANDERING SOUL.  I
can't pass any major judgments yet, but the Pynchon comparison here is plain
and undeniable.  Particularly, there is a gorgeous chapter (the third, I
believe) that recounts the evacuation of London children to the countryside
in anticipation of Hitler's bombings.  Not only does the topic of this
chapter echo the opening and child focus of GRAVITY'S RAINBOW, but its
grim-while-still-magical tone seems to be near-homage.  The chapter also
echoes the wonderful Christmas passage of GR that has been recently discussed
on the list.  In Powers' version, though it is not Christmas, a teacher and
his remaining preterite orphans (the few he couldn't "give away" to townsfolk
who each have their own unseemly agenda for these evacuee kids) enter a
church at night for shelter.  With no apparent adult supervision, a boys
choir appears and sings "evensong" to the group, a song that suggests to the
teacher that their may, after all, we something vital in his otherwise
debauched culture.  Strangely, the children (the choirboys and the orphans)
all disappear when his attention drifts.  In addition to the word "evensong,"
there are other specific words that echo the beauty of GR's "Roger and
Jessica Come Upon a Scratch Choir" scene.  Ingeniously, powers ends the
chapter with a page entitled "Questions for Further Discussion" that contains
exactly the kind of didactic but limited questions you would find in a high
school anthology of literature.

At least in that moment, Powers exposes that he is both intimately familiar
with Pynchon's work and capable of approaching TRP's style and way with
language.

- Will Layman