ATD: ad: Pynchon excerpt from new novel

[Spencer T. Campbell]

Yikes, and really 'genious' spelling there, too.


On 8/4/06, Spencer T. Campbell <spencer.t.campbell2 at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm sorry, I certainly wasn't trying to pass any kind of premature
> judgment on the novel itself--based on the title, the blurb, or any of
> it.  And 'dreadful' was, I admit, hyperbolic.  But, if authentic, I
> should like to think that the fact that it's filthy with pop-western
> cliche marks it as some kind of broad genre parody, as opposed to an
> attempt at the kind of genuine and aching drama that Pynchon has
> achieved in his other books.  I mean, "in classic throwdown posture"
> or "trying to aim it as straight as a shaking pair of hands would
> allow"...these are TV cues, not penetrating scene-setting.
>
> So my point was that, if it's a moment of caricature, it's odd that
> Penguin would choose to excerpt as advertisement.  I have every faith
> that Pynchon is sharp as ever, but this passage isn't particularly
> sharp.
>
> But Pynchon is difficult to excerpt (genious point, I know).  A lot of
> the power of individual passages is the endpoint of pages and pages of
> mounting incident or symbolic sleight-of-hand.
>
> In short: don't think a few paragraphs and some chatter mean this
> phone-book's a clunker, but don't undestand penguin's marketing
> strategy, either.
>
>
> On 8/4/06, Dave Monroe <monropolitan at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > Dont like it on the basis of a title, a blurb, and
> > MAYBE one page?   Don't read it, then, I guess ...
> >
> > But then don't complain about it, either ...
> >
>