Eco (WAS: Re: Mason Dixon)

[David Nevin Friedman]

Hmmm....Comparing Pynchon and Eco does not seem to be a problem for me.
So far as I can tell, any work of fiction can be compared to another, even
if it is to compare John Grisham's drivel with Shakespeare's eloquence...

The question, I believe, is not whether two styles are comparable, but
what belongs to the so-called literary canon...and what (like Grisham)
belongs in the gutter.  Ok, so maybe I'm a bit of a snob.  Seriously,
though, I think any work of fiction is similar to any other in that all
convey a message of some sort...they all use the universal idea of
language, and are thus comparable.

Where texts diverge is in the aesthetic appeal.  

Ok, time to step off my soapbox....:)


David

"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than have a frontal lobotomy..."
		--Unknown

"You have to forget about what other people say, when you're supposed to 
die, or when you're supposed to be loving.  You have to forget about all 
these things.  You have to go on and be crazy.  Craziness is heaven."
		--Jimi Hendrix

On Mon, 21 Oct 1996 Ebiri1 at aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 96-10-21 18:51:22 EDT, you write:
> 
> << Anything by Umberto Eco is a great read...almost as great as Pynchon.
>  Anyone ever read Eco's novel Foucault's Pendulum?  It makes GR look
>  simple... >>
> 
> Have to chime in here and say that while I love Eco, I found THE ISLAND OF
> THE DAY BEFORE quite tiresome and disappointing.  I felt that the energy of
> THE NAME OF THE ROSE and FOUCAULT'S PENDULUM and even his semiotic works had
> dissipated completely, and his ability to weave narrative with thematic
> complexity was just not there, despite a couple of bright shining moments
> that made me wish for ROSE.
> 
> I always find it hard comparing Eco and Pynchon.  I've always felt that Eco
> had a very non-fiction, discursive style, which makes some sense, given his
> background.  Pynchon is clearly a writer of fiction -- despite his
> stylization he can still hold back, imply, poeticize, bury, hide -- whereas
> Eco seems to be more, for my lack of a better word at this given moment,
> "straight-forward".  Both styles I find quite legitimate, though, and quite
> powerful when practiced by their respective masters.  Then again, tho', thass
> jes my opinion-like.
> 
> --Bilge Ebiri
> 
>