Gore's rosebud

[Craig Clark]

Steven Maas writes:
 
> It's funny to see such an also-ran (as a novelist at least, I haven't read
> his essays) belittling TRP--but it rankles when he claims that Pynchon is
> of interest only to LitCrit types.  Excuse me Mr. Vidal, but others of us
> value genius when we stumble upon it on our own.

At the risk of inciting YET another flame war from Vidal fans on the 
group, I must be honest and say that, enjoyable though _Duluth_ was, 
it didn't strike me as a work from the kind of writer I'd put in the 
same league as TRP. I browsed a copy of his recent autobiography 
recently (which I bought as a present for a friend) and nothing I 
read there struck me as coming from an author of Pynchon's calibre 
either. Admittedly this isn't too surprising - I don't think there 
are any other contemporary US authors (or indeed authors) who rank 
where TRP ranks (IMHO at least). But I wouldn't even put Vidal in the 
same league as Don De Lillo or Salman Rushdie or Gene Wolfe or John 
Crowley (through whose _Little, Big_ I am sailing on wings of pure magic 
at the moment), all three of whom are authors of considerable complexity and 
talent and imagination, and all three of whom fall far short of 
Pynchon.

My impression - based admittedly on minimal exposure - is that Vidal 
is a very fine writer indeed, but not in the top rank of authors, 
whereas Pynchon is in that small league of major figures in the 
history of fiction.

BTW, speaking of Crowley - I recall a few months ago that someone was 
recommending him highly on the list. If that good soul would like to 
engage, off-list, in a bit of a discussion about Crowley, I'm game...

Craig Clark

"Living inside the system is like driving across
 the countryside in a bus driven by a maniac bent
 on suicide."
   - Thomas Pynchon, "Gravity's Rainbow"