The Goldbug Variations

[Brian Collins]

Jeffrey Hildt mentioned Goldbug Variations, and funnily enough I was just
about to make my first post to recommend the very same, seeing as theres so
many (ex)librarians about in the List . . .I thought it brilliant, having
picked it up because the blurb compared Powers to TRP (and I like fat
books). It enthused me to get reading in evolution - currently I'm on
Daniel Dennett's Darwins Dangerous Idea, which is also highly recommended.
Speaking of fat books, there's a review of Infinite Jest in the current
London Review of Books by Dale Peck which pulls no punches, and raises some
interesting issues. He's hard on Pynchon, and ends by characterizing both
TRP and DFW by a quotation from Susan Sontag's Notes on Camp: 'Without
passion, one gets pseudo-camp - what is merely decorative, safe, in a word,
chic. On the barren edge of camp lie a number of attractive things: the
sleek fantasies of Dali . . .' I did always think GR was camp, though I
found passion in it, and Vineland must be the campest straight book in a
long time.

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> From: Jeffrey Hildt <JHildt at operanews.com>
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Cc: p-romanienko at ski.mskcc.org
> Subject: Re: a personal
> Date: 21 July 1996 19:22
> 
> Peter,
> 
> As a molecular biologist (and lover of hip lit) let me recommend, if you
> haven't already made its acquaintance, THE GOLDBUG VARIATIONS by Richard
> Powers, one of the best books by one of my favorite (and, in spite of
> several NBA and NBCCA nominations, I believe underrated) authors.
> 
> It's the story of . . . a molecular biologist!  . . . told essentially
> in two time frames: as a young man doing Nobel-level DNA research in the
> 50s at the University of Illinois and, as an older man, 25 years later,
> withdrawn and working as a computer programmer on a night shift where
> he's befriended by a young couple who try to piece together his story. 
> It's Powers most passionate and romantic book (TWO wonderful love
> stories!) and perhaps his smartest (and that's saying something).  It
> changed the way I think about evolution: the accidental vs. "grand plan"
> views of nature.  And it's a good read.
> 
> Best of luck to you and your mice.
> 
> Jeff Hildt, (also) NYC
>