Mcelroy

[Keith Brecher]

At 10:22 AM 5/21/97 MDT, MATT FOLSOM FOR PRESIDENT 2032 wrote:
>Who is this Joseph Mcelroy character?  Women and Men is HUGE!  Is he 
>in the same kinda vein as Pynchon?  Let me know, Matt                
>
Dear Matt Folsom for President 2032--
I'm glad you asked since I'm more than happy to tell you that Joseph
McElroy is one of the great ones, though I don't think he's quite in the
same vein as Pynchon, despite what the blurbs on his novels would have you
believe. McElroy is often mentioned in the company of Gaddis, DeLillo, and
Pynchon, but he's like them only in the sense that he might be considered
"postmodern." Nobody out there, including those lame "avant-pop" novelists,
is producing anything remotely as original as McElroy's three greatest
novels LOOKOUT CARTRIDGE, PLUS, and WOMEN AND MEN. The only real similarity
between McElroy and Pynchon is that both use serious science in their
novels, though McElroy's is considerably more serious than Pynchon's. 
  There's been much discussion about Pynchon as a "difficult" writer, but
TRP doesn't come close to McElroy's level of difficulty. WOMEN AND MEN,
which is longer than GR, does not require a "companion," but nevertheless
is far more difficult. Unlike TRP, McElroy uses few allusions--if he
mentions somebody reading a book, that's all you'll find out about it--but
his "expanding consciousness" type writing and bizarre metaphors are very
heavy going and prone to causing migraine headaches. However, the
brilliance of a slender novel like PLUS is worth all the effort. In PLUS,
you will witness the birth of a whole new type of consciousnes that will
literally unfold before you on the page. Nobody has written anything like it. 
   PLUS and LOOKOUT CARTRIDGE may still be in print from Carroll & Graf.
WOMEN AND MEN  was originally published by Knopf, but was recently
re-issued by Dalkey Archive Press and can often be found in the remainder
bins in the original hardcover. It's hard for met to say more about
McElroy's novels since they're sort of indescribable. However, people fond
of Jean-Luc Godard and Stanley Kubrick should check out LOOKOUT CARTRIDGE.
Lawrence Shainberg fans should obtain PLUS. And those patting themselves on
the back because GR seemed easy after the second read should try WOMEN AND
MEN. Anybody making it all the way through and concluding that it wasn't
too hard are either geniuses or mistakenly rented those "Women and Men"
videos I sometimes see on the shelves at Blockbuster.    
>
Joseph McElroy for President in 2040,
Keith