[Ya Sam]

My two-pennyworth. 'Dubliners' is definitely better than Pynchon's stories, 
in the sense that they are better crafted. But  'Portrait of the Artist' 
(written when Joyce was approximately the same age as Pynchon when he wrote 
V.) in my opinion is a weaker work. It is still quite a conventional 
bildungsroman that have some sparks of Joycean genius, but it does not 
prepare one for Ulysses. As for V., it is uneven and has a number of flaws, 
but it is a real breakthrough in fiction, something which can't be said 
about The Portrait. V. does prepare one for Gravity's Rainbow, its depth and 
the ability to tackle global issues in a poetic way are astonishing. 
Mondaugen's Story is the best text about colonialism since The Heart of 
Darkness. Now let's take Ulysses and GR. Pynchon and Joyce wrote them 
respectively at the ages of 36 and 40. And here I personally cannot say 
which is better, for me they are on the same level. That has become a 
cliche, but I truly believe that GR is a postmodern Ulysses of sorts.
As for 'Figgens Wake', it's a universe on its own, and there is nothing to 
compare it to now.



>With hindsight and, particularly, with the publication of Slow Learner, one
>sees clear differences in breadth and writerly talent between him and 
>Joyce, to
>stick with that comparison.  The stories in Slow Learner were written when
>Pynchon was approximately the same age as Joyce when Joyce wrote Dubliners. 
>  No
>champion of Pynchon shold be comfortable with that comparison.  Which is 
>fine.
>  It doesn't matter, or shouldn't, whether Pynchon's not as great as Joyce.
>He is what he is, which is, on balance, awfully good.
>

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