Neal Stephenson (was Re: Radicalism of reading)

[still lookin 4 the face i had b4 the world was made]

On Fri, 2 May 1997 Eslacaja at aol.com wrote:
> see Neal Stephenson's _The Diamond Age_-- sci-fi stuff, but interesting in
> terms of the way he deals with books, the format of reading.  the book a
> medum that will not die.  The story centers around an "electronic primer"
> for a street urchin.  The primer is a real book, has weight, pages to be
> turned.  It’s just that it’s a constantly updated book.  Just like all the
> things the bigheads are thinking about doing with newspapers – updated
> tablets, disappearing ink, etc.  Cuz, let’s face it, reading in this
> format is shitty.  Click, click.

Sounds fascinating.  I read _Snow Crash_, which I think is Stephenson's
first novel.  It was quite imaginative...sort of a comic-epic homage to
William Gibson's _Neuromancer_, but definitely with a nod in the direction
of, say, TRP.  And of course lots of thoroughly original ideas--
extrapolations on contemporary events and trends.  The world carved up into
outposts of franchised entities?  Franchise outlet instruction binders as
a kind of DNA?  Glossolalia (speaking in tongues) as the "machine language"
of the human brain?  Wow.  Quite a trip.  Oh, and the Mafia pizza delivery
scene at the start was great too.

I will look out for _The Diamond Age_, having been thoroughly impressed by
_Snow Crash_.

> Anyway, the premise of TDA is that culture is more important than race in
> determining a people's/civ's material success; 

This follows on the heels of _Snow Crash_ with its emphasis on "memes."

> For what reasons do we love Pynchon?  I know for me, the main reason is
> his voice, which may well be the truest polytonal American voice we have –
> thus, he articulates, refines, produces images and video clips that we
> hold onto, little bits of our newly redeemed American tradition. The
> setting, subject matter of M&D seems particularly timely, yah?  History as
> fiction, as our collective fiction – Pynchon writing into the void...

Couldn't have said it better!  Pynchon has actually (partially) inspired
me to jot some notes for a novel which reimagines and conspiracizes (new
word?) the history of my high school and its surrounding community on the
outskirts of Miami, from the 1920s to the 1990s.  Dunno if it'll ever be
finished...

Max

 M a x i m u s  D a v i d  C l a r k e | while I crawl into the unknown/
          http://www.afn.org/~traveler | cover me/
                 "Surrealist-At-Large" | I'm going hunting for mysteries/
                      traveler at afn.org | cover me...  --bjork