eGad: new mcelroy essay

[Paul Mackin]

I read Actress in the House and liked it a lot. Demanding but worth the
effort. Keeping track of what's going on requires a quiet room with
nobody around. The dust jacket features Rita Hayworth being slapped by
Glen Ford in the movie "Gilda" echoing an attention grabbing incident
from early in the novel. There is never anything trite or boring in the
book. A bit of technology there too as I recall at this late date.
Might read the book again.

Don't think I ever finished anything else by McElroy. Not sure now
whether I started Women and Men. It might have just seemed too long to
bother with. Actress in the House is only about 400 pages.

P.

On Thu, 2005-04-21 at 14:43 +0000, Ghetta Life wrote:
> >From: "Otto" <ottosell at yahoo.de>
> >
> >So far I'm struggling with "Lookout Cartridge" (1), "Plus" (2) and "A 
> >Smuggler's Bible" (3) simultaneously.
> 
> Rather than "simultaneously" I think "sequentially and sporadically" might 
> be more accurate.  Are they really that hard to follow?  About the only 
> thing that stops me from pushing on through a book is boredom.  If I don't 
> think I'm understanding something I just usually keep on going despite.
> 
> >I had started with (1), but stopped quite early because I had lost track 
> >between p. 19 and 27.
> >
> >Then I tried to read (2) which seems to be the most "accessible" of the 
> >novels. I stopped after 35 pages.
> >
> >Before starting with (3) I read some secondary material, "The Review of 
> >Contemporary Fiction," Volume X 1990, Spring Issue, in which you find 
> >essays by well known (if you're familiar with Pynchon-secondary material) 
> >people like Joseph Tabbi, John Johnston, Brian Stonehill, Frederick R. 
> >Karl, Brian McHale and Steven Moore -- which encouraged me to go on.
> >
> >http://www.centerforbookculture.org/review/90_1.html
> >
> >Then I started reading (3) and went up to page 41. I haven't given up yet.
> 
> (1) is supposed to be his "best."  I've read some exerts of (2), and it 
> seems a bit difficult because of the somewhat scrambled mind it seeks to 
> give voice to.  But the scenario of (2)'s creature gradually discovering his 
> own nature attracts me, and it reminds me a bit of Beckett's Trilogy.  I'll 
> probably end up reading all three.
> 
> Ghetta
> 
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