book rec?/ if you enjoyed P, try these /++

[Vivek Ahlawat]

Some time back I read some All American sniggers about
Derek Walcott, Dario Fo etc and as I am reading
further FTPbackwards to the days of Jules Siegal, I
sense a heavy dominance of Americana with a smattering
of Rushdie,Eco etc. The usual list includes Coover,
the P polarized, Barth, Gass, the P blurbed: mostly
honorable and intelligent Americans.
 
I would love to discover some off beat writers not on
the Academic sanctioned detemined post grads list. For
starters I am adding these, please continue adding
more:

1) Viktor Pelevin: Life of Insects
Talking Dog meets Kafka

2) Ban Okri: The Famished Road: Think Africa, a weird
sensibility and fat juicy description to make your
Pavlovian glands come alive.

3) David Caute: Fatima's Scarf: 
Did to Rushdie (and perhaps Naguib Mahfouz) what Mao 2
did to P and Salinger.

4) Gunter Grass: Dog Years
Fattest slab of narrative extravaganza.
Oh Boy!

5) Jose Saramago: The Year of the Death of Ricardo
Reis
Somebody said lush prose!!!!!

6) Pramoda Ananta Toer: This Earth of Mankind
(Colonialism, Dutch, perennial Nobel Candidate)

7) Vikram Chandra: Red Earth and Pouring Rain
Multilayered narrative from a fantastic Natural Born
Storyteller.

8) Orhan Pamuk: The New Life
The Road, Yo Yo,  delirium, angst; the first sentence
reads: Once I read a book and my whole life chnaged.
How can you be a GR thumping Pynchonite and not read
this!


--- Dave Monroe <monroe at mpm.edu> wrote:
> .... and I'd add the following:
> 
> --William Gaddis, The Recognitions
> 
> --Harry Mathews, The Conversions
> 
> --John Barth, Giles Goat-Boy
> 
> --Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon
> 
> .... the Gaddis and Mathews books are likely
> influences on Pynchon, and,
> certainly, partake of certain of Pynchon's
> interests, obsessions, what
> have you.  The Barth book (one might also suggest
> The End of the Road,
> or L.E.T.T.E.R.S., or ...) is at least of the era.  
> The Stephenson,
> while perhaps, for a 700 or whatever page novel,
> might actually prove a
> bit of light reading, is nonetheless indebted to
> Gravity's Rainbow, for
> starters, and is at least engaging and entertaining.
>  One might indeed
> learn something from it.  far better than his, er,
> "straight" SF.  For
> cryptology fans, at least, a la Richard Powers' The
> Goldbug Variations
> .....
> 
> Vivek Ahlawat wrote:
> 
> > I would recommend these to a Pynchon fan:
> >
> > 1) Life: A Users Manual by Georges Perec
> >
> > 2) Discovery of Heaven: Harry Mulisch (*****) One
> of
> > the very best of the living Europeans.
> >
> > 3) Women: Phillipe Sollers
> >
> > 4) The Wind Up Bird Chronicle: Haruki Murakami
> >
> > All are big, complex and you can use several of
> the
> > adjectives used to describe Pynchon and the
> Pynchon
> > polarized writers like Vollmann, Wallace, Powers,
> Tom
> > Boyle et al in States.
> >
> > Also, more recommendations from others would be
> > welcome to dust our lists.
> >
> > Vivek
> >
> >
> >
> > --- Brian Whitman <bwhitman at crudites.org> wrote:
> > >
> > > I'm very sorry to be using this List for such
> inane
> > > and selfish things!
> > > But who knows-- I have recently devoured all I
> could
> > > of Donald Barthelme's
> > > work. I find his short stories absolutely
> wonderful,
> > > especially "The Big
> > > Radio Broadcast of 1938" which I found a
> > > particularly touching love story.
> > > Also loved "Snow White" and all that. Would love
> to
> > > get more, but I've
> > > read them all and he's no longer with us :(
> > >
> > > Am going on vacation in a bit and want to bring
> a
> > > book. Was going to bring
> > > a P book but I want to expand a bit more. So
> here's
> > > my personal ad: "M
> > > seeks big Book for long sets on beach, quiet
> nights.
> > > Likes: Pynchon, D
> > > Barthelme, some DF Wallace, books about video
> game
> > > comapnies or cats.
> > > Dislikes: most science fiction, pop science
> nonfic."
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Brian Whitman
> > > bwhitman at crudites.org
> > > Crudites Sound Ventures
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> > __________________________________________________
> > Do You Yahoo!?
> > Send instant messages & get email alerts with
> Yahoo! Messenger.
> > http://im.yahoo.com/
> 


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