American Culture

[Wolfe, Skip]

Veg --

In his essay, Mendelson sets very strict criteria for an "encyclopedic 
narrative" (a term I believe he coined), and only a few works throughout 
history meet them.  I doubt I can remember them all without checking (I'm at 
work and the essay is at home), but they include _Don Quixote_, _Moby Dick_, 
_The Divine Comedy_ (I think), _Ulysses_, and the works of Rabelais.  For 
England, he says the role of encyclopedic narrative is shared by the works 
of Shakespeare & Chaucer.  He also identifies some works as 
"near-encyclopedias."   These include _Tristram Shandy_ and _One Hundred 
Years of Solitude_.  I can't remember if he includes _The Recognitions_ on 
that list or not.  Anyway, I'll be happy to photocopy the article and mail 
it to you, if you'll let me know your address.

Trying to remember _The Recognitions_, and Mendelson's criteria, I'm sure 
the book meets at least some of them.  If its cultural identity is American 
(U.S., that is) then it wouldn't qualify simply because _Moby Dick_ already 
holds that position, even if it met all the other criteria.  And I'd guess 
it was published too early to qualify as international -- the publication of 
an encyclopedic narrative must correspond with a culture's awareness of 
itself (or something -- I can't remember Mendelson's phrases exactly).

     Skip
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On Sat, 25 May 1996, Wolfe, Skip wrote:

> Yes -- and in his excellent essay "Gravity's Encyclopedia" ( in _Mindful
> Pleasures_), Edward Mendelson identifies _GR_ as the international
> encyclopedic narrative (only one allowed per nation or culture, and _Moby
> Dick_ is already the USA's).

   Gaddis's _The Recognitions_ is characterized as an encyclopedic
novel.  Do you agree?  And, if so, what culture does it belong to?

   veg