Gaddis

[jporter]

> From: "Richard Romeo" <richardromeo at hotmail.com>

> mr porter sed:
>> 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.
> ------------
> Not sure I follow, jody--I'd put more of the blame on the critics--the book
> was too prescient for them.  forget about the reading public.  Fire the
> Bastards puts the record straight. I'm sure any creative person would be
> peeved if they poured their sweat into a work, only to have cranks and
> nitwits disparage it in public--TR seems the ultimate in literary crit at
> its lowest. Unfortunately, we still have the Walter Kirns with us, who hate
> books they haven't read. I can relate to views that disagree with mine, they
> occasionally teach me about my own prejudices.  But it angers me when
> someone is unwilling or is not aware that they are not attempting to educate
> or put across constructive views on a work.  TR is such a case study.  Note:
> Same goes for folks like J Knipfel who praised M&D to high heaven without
> reading the whole thing.
> 
> Rich

Yo, Rich!

I agree 100%. Unfortunately the critic in this case happened to be Gaddis
himself. I don't recall where I read his intimations regarding the shocks of
awareness that assaulted him after the generally bad reviews and/or just
plain silence that greeted the publication of his initial masterpiece. It
was probably in an interview post publication of JR or CG, but it may have
been in the mid-70's, while I was tracking down influences on the young
Pynchon for a senior seminar: Science and Literature, looking at Science as
Metaphor in The Crying of Lot 49. The textperts back then seemed to feel
that it was Gaddis who first introduced the thematic use of entropy into
American Literature, and, of course, he was hep to the CIA-banana connection
long before Pirate sat down to breakfast.

I wonder what his take would be on the billions being sent to the Columbian
Armed Forces to finance The War on Drugs?

Anyway, he seemed self-assured enough to understand the chilly reception
afforded The Recognitions, but I don't think it led him to compromise at all
in the works that followed.

jody