Gore's rosebud

[Henry M]

I don't know if Mr. V. ranks himself as a great writer, but I doubt 
he does. I do think he's generally a "good read" if you enjoy that 
catty tone. He's a much better writer than I am, in any case. 
Probably a rather good reader, and he's obviously quite intelligent, 
so I would dismiss his remarks/critcicism offhand. Doesn't mean that 
I agree with everything he has to say, eg. re Pynchon, of course.

> From:          "Craig Clark" <CLARK at SHEPFS2.UND.AC.ZA>
> Date:          Fri, 28 Feb 1997 16:20:48 GMT+0200

> 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"
> 
> 

AsB4
Keep cool, but care. -- TRP
Moderation in moderation. -- Husky Mariner
m1,ru12? - HDM, d1