atd dissapointment

[David Casseres]

I distinctly remember having a bit of a What the Fuck reaction at the
beginning of Gravity's Rainbow, first time through.  A giant adenoid?
I mean rilly.

On 12/1/06, John Pendergast <jpender at siue.edu> wrote:
>
>
> "with this one, as has been my experience with any Pynchon opus, ya gotta
> take the good with the bad...."
>
>
>
> It seems to me that this feeling of initial frustration and anxiety is a
> fundamental part of the "Pynchon aesthetic", if I may. At least it is for
> me; and then, after a few pages (or a hundred), almost magically, I see why
> it is the way it is. I think this is why I love Pynchon; as a reader he
> makes me feel "young again", and as a teacher of literature, he helps me to
> understand how less experienced readers approach literature -- first, "what
> the fuck", then, if they persist, "oh, I get it -- how cool."
>
> And, in the spirit of "feeling young again," tonight I'm off to see the New
> York Dolls at a our local music barn.
>
> Best,
>
> John
>
> ...
> On 11/30/06, bob mccart <lebishar at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I don't mean to start a flame war, but is anyone else incredibly
> disapointed with Against the Day. I've read only to 120 because the interest
> just isn't there. I've read everything else except Mason&Dixon, which from
> the little I have read of it I expect to be very much like ATD. ATD moves to
> quickly. Pynchon establishes no 'immediacy' of plot. Instead of setting, we
> have a chronology. Events move to fast and are undeveloped. Pynchon seems to
> try to ground the book in the 'now' with dialogue, which is often nothing
> more than a one liner maybe followed up by a response. Whether the slang is
> accurate or not, it's almost like Pynchon over the years has grown worse and
> worse at writing dialogue. Some of short stories attempt different voices
> for different people. I should say I love V, and Gravity's Rainbow is
> probably my favorite book. In Vineland I was willing to accept what I saw as
> this new style of his--mainly because it was so short and cohesive. But what
> the fuck was he thinking with against the Day? What I really want is
> validation for hating the book.
> >
>
>