Pynchon and others

[LARSSON at vax1.mankato.msus.edu]

Queried:
"Does this comparison make sense to any one? Does any one know of any work
done on this topic? Pynchon has his Dickensian names, coincidences. But
what about reversing the influence and reading Dickens as Pynchonian?
Please respond, even it it's to say no way."


Well, Chuck was far too much the sentimentalist and linear plotter to bear
too much comparison, though his Social Conscience has some affinities.
What makes Dickens more than a museum piece is his way with words and the
occasional narrative daring of some of his books.  See BLEAK HOUSE, in
particular, where he alternates present tense-first person with first-person
past-tense narration.  Actually, the modern writer I've thought of most
in comparison with Dickens is, strangely enough, Richard Brautigan (a name
that hasn't surfaced on this list lately)!  Both have a wonderful touch
for wierd and extravagent metaphors.  Read the opening page or two of
BLEAK HOUSE and see if you agree.

That review Paul posted by John Clute was marvelous.  It sums up my own reaction
to the much-abused VINELAND and sounds so Pynchonian in its own resonances that
I wonder if a) Clute *always* writes like that; b) he caught the fever from
TRP; c) he is (an inevitable speculation) TRP himself?


If Terrance Davies is doing THE NEON BIBLE, I'd love to see it.  I've only
his THE LONG DAY CLOSES, but it is a remarkable (if distinctly un-Pynchonesque)
film.

Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)