A simple Pynchon:Gaddis analogy

[Brecher_Keith/mskcc_Neurology at mskmail.mskcc.org]

     I haven't been able to subscribe to the list from this lousy 
     institutional e-mail site, so maybe I'm behind the times and you've 
     already concluded that MASON & DIXON is actually the worst novel of 
     the year, more awful even than MAN CRAZY. If you have, forgive me. If 
     not, read on.
        To begin with, a simple analogy:
     
        Thomas Pynchon:MASON & DIXON::William Gaddis:A FROLIC OF HIS OWN
     
     I realized this when I was ruminating about the fact that our very 
     best writers have lately been turning out substandard material. Who do 
     I mean? Not DFW since his stuff has sucked from the very start. I'm 
     talking about Gaddis, Coover, Barth, Hawkes, and, of course, TRP. I 
     have to qualify the Hawkes thing because AN IRISH EYE is pretty good, 
     but definitely not on the same level as THE OWL. Gaddis is the best 
     comparison to TRP because A FROLIC OF HIS OWN was received with the 
     same respectful awe as MASON & DIXON and, while a much better novel 
     than M&D, is still not remotely equal to THE RECOGNITIONS. 
        The only person writing better novels than he did twenty years ago 
     is J.G. Ballard. COCAINE NIGHTS and RUSHING TO PARADISE are among his 
     very best.
        The problem with M&D, besides the fact that Walter Kirn has been 
     proven right about it, is that it fails in so many ways that it has to 
     be considered one of the great literary hoaxes of the century. Besides 
     being a falsely inflated best-seller, M&D "earned" rave review after 
     rave review which, in retrospect, are all total bullshit. Why? Because 
     M&D does not stand up on re-reading. After the dazzle of the press 
     blitz has worn off, and we've all finished gazing lovingly at that 
     impressive ampersand with its luminous green border, it is very clear 
     that M&D is among the most unfunny comic novels ever written, far 
     worse even than VINELAND. The prose, decent in parts, is clunky and 
     unwieldy. The characters are still as mindless and one-dimensional as 
     the cast and crew of GR and V. It's boring and flatulent. The tired 
     old Pynch re-uses bad math puns. His world-conspiracy theme is creaky 
     and infirm. Time to take that one out behind the barn, Ruggles, and 
     shoot it. In fact, maybe it's time to take Ru--, ah I won't go that 
     far. 
        Let's face it. Even with its Buddha-nature intact, the Octuple 
     Gloucester is still the worst joke of the year. And M&D, maybe the 
     worst masterpiece.