Rushdie on Eco and Pynchon

[Ebiri1 at aol.com]

Aaron Yeater wrote:

<< > Hmmm...maybe I was wrong about Eco.  Does anyone remember when Rushdie
> > reviewed Foucault's Pendulum in the NYT?  I'd appreciate any
 >> information...thanx...
 
 
 >I'm not sure re: NYT, but the review can be found in Rushdie's
  >collection of essays and reviews entitled "Imaginary Homelands" (i 
  >think that's right...).  A good collection--he's a vicious reviewer, 
  >and a better essayist i think than he gets credit for...
 
  >>

IMAGINARY HOMELANDS is, aside from MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN, Rushdie's greatest
achievement as a writer.  The reviews and the essays reveal so much about him
it's sometimes almost painful to read.  His identity not only as a writer but
as a person is really wrapped up somewhere in that book.  {Incidentally,
there's a glowing review of VINELAND thrown in there as well, where you can
see TRP's influence on Rushdie.  It's like if Brian De Palma reviewed REAR
WINDOW.  (Sorry 'bout that one, rather like De Palma meself...)}

Far as Eco goes, what I was saying earlier re: his discursive style,
reminiscent of non-fiction, might be what others are referring to as "flat"
and "dry".  I don't think I agree that it's flat.  I liked FP, and I loved
NAME OF THE ROSE, and I think that the proper way to approach those works is
almost as one would approach historical books -- false history, if you will
(which adds that extra "oomph" to FP, being as it is about false histories).
 ISLAND OF THE DAY BEFORE was junk (so to speak) because I felt as if he'd
abandoned that style, and had started to underwrite, as if he were writing
fiction -- hiding and implying rather than just saying.  Problem with Eco is:
He can't do it, and the result was amateurish and stultifying, like a really
good student of science and history taking a fiction writing class.  IMO...

While I do hate to compare, I'd have to also say that I would easily take a
bullet for Pynchon and not one for Eco.  I guess that implies a certain level
of preference, there... :)

--Bilge Ebiri