Gaddis

[jporter]

> From: "s~Z" <keith at pfmentum.com>

> The Recognitions is perfectly accessible and simply divine.
> 
> The others will wait.

For the record, I like you, so while this is somewhat negative in tone, it
is not an attempt to make you look bad.

I disagreed with your *rush* to group read GR, and I think that it has been
a failure, which could have been avoided. You, yourself, did not participate
much.

I object to your same *rush to organize* tactics w/r/t V., it being almost
forty years since its publication, and while a great novel, Slow Learner or
Lot 49 (or even Down So Long) might have been a better choice at this
juncture. V. could have waited a little longer.

As for The Recognitions, it wasn't until after it's dismal failure with
public and critics alike, that Gaddis realized he wasn't going to win every
literary prize offered that year, not to mention an invitation to Stockholm.
In short, it's probably one of the best first novels ever penned, but it
still exemplifies a first novelist's attempt at Greatness. I agree with
MalignD, but I would choose Carpenter's Gothic- which, in terms of
accessibility, stands to the body of Gaddis' work as Lot 49 does to the work
of Pynchon, except, CG is better written.

I, personally, am unwilling to make the necessary effort to organize a group
read of anything, and therefore, admit that the above comments represent the
carpings of a lazy freeloader. However, I have a pretty good feel for the
way these things seem to play out. I lobbied hard for VLVL, for example,
which many felt would be a waste, but actually turned out rather well.

Given the inability of a number of participants to avoid long, boring,
defensive- and too often- personal attacks and counterattacks, vis-a-vis the
scriptural interpretation of our eponymous spirit, it might be time to
refresh our literary palates and commune with something a little less
doctrinal.

sighingly,

jody