NP Vollmann's / external referents (hyperlinks)

[jd]

It was a friend's reading of Critical Path, plus him showing me the
dimaxion map (sp?) that made me have those feelings, for the record,
so I could be wrong.

On 7/6/06, jd <wescac at gmail.com> wrote:
> I think my final call on Vollmann, judging from four volumes of RURD
> and The Royal Family, is that he has that horrible problem with
> writing himself into his own work far too much.  Regardless of
> ignoring editors.  His ego, from what I've read, is just too epic to
> make for really good writing.  It can still be amusing. but...
> lacking.  And his take on prostitution, as shown by The Royal Family,
> does, in a way, make me cast judgement on what he says is RURD.  Sure,
> he mentions the $100 BJ girls from LA, vaugely, but he's obviously far
> too married to the "pure whore" stereotype.  And that alone makes me
> wonder about his comments RE: RURD.  I believe it's in volume two
> where he delves into Lincoln.  I could be mistaken but... well... it
> seems to be a rather divergent view.  Which casts into doubt any
> judgement call he ends up making later on.  His books seem far too
> ego-centric for me to take his "non-fiction" on face value at this
> point.
>
> It feels sort of like how I've been reading Nine Chains to the Moon,
> just to find out that in Critical Path Fulller lays out his "own"
> version of history, which makes me doubt pretty much everything in his
> previous books that don't deal explicitly with science or
> architecture.  I think Fuller is great... but his politics...  holy
> damn...  definitely gives a little credence to his detractors.  On
> that train of thought, does anyone here think the Greeks really
> circumnavigated the globe?  Is Fuller full of shit?  definitely a
> tangent.  Seems to be, every once in awhile those people who don't
> believe in "history" as it's taught in textbooks are right, but more
> often than not they're batshit crazy...  so forgive me for my
> skepticism.
>
> On 7/6/06, mikebailey at speakeasy.net <mikebailey at speakeasy.net> wrote:
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Paul Mackin [mailto:paul.mackin at verizon.net]
> > > Subject: Re: NP Vollmann's  / Heinrich Boell / OBAFGKMRNS
> > >
> > > >>
> > > >
> > > > Yes, the Kathe Kollwitz chapter was great!  I felt inferior reading
> > > > the Shostakovich bits because I didn't know the pieces he was
> > > > talking about.  Perhaps if I listen to them I can finish the novel...
> > >
> > > Does one have to have seen a V2 launch to  "get" Gravity's Rainbow?
> > > No, the authors words describe the event sufficiently.
> > >
> > > Europe Central is fiction. At least  that's what it won the National
> > > Book Award for.  In any event,  it's not something one should read
> > > for reliable information.
> > >
> >
> > yes, but it would be fun to see if I agree with his descriptions (the movements reflecting various sexual encounters in particular) and the research for the other side of the metaphors might be fun too...
> >
> > National Book Award?  didn't know...
> >
> > I just read that article in Pynchon Notes, "Harmless Yank Hobby", that everybody was discussing a short while ago. After making that strange point about a hyperlink betw the Kenosha Kid and Major Major - something that certainly never crossed my mind when reading either book - it really delves into Phillip Dick as a spreader of interesting ideas, so I'm left with a bifurcated impression: a) I don't know Dick (Horselover Fat!)that well
> >  and b) Besides "hyperlinks" to great classics like Eliot, it's fruitful to look for responses in Pynchon to writers currently writing.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>