Pynchon vs. Pynchon

[helms2]

Jim Gilbert wrote:
> Here's what I wanna know, and these recent reviews bring it to the 
> forefront -- why is it impossible for these reviewers and neo-critics 
> to appreciate Against the Day for the novel it is, without comparing 
> it (positively or negatively) to Pynchon's other work? Is TP doomed to 
> ever compete with himself and lose? Is that the price of setting so 
> high a bar? I don't recall reading reviews of Umberto Eco's Queen 
> Loana that felt the need to compare it to, say, Foucault's Pendulum. 
> Why do so many people seem to be looking for "Gravity's Rainbow II"?
Finally, somebody said it. I've heard it's getting panned for the most 
part (but I refuse to read any of them myself just yet), and it seems a 
bit ridiculous to me. Lot 49 is not V is not GR is not Vineland is not 
M&D, so what's the problem? The Loana Foucault's Pendulum reference is a 
salient one, but I get the feeling with Eco that the guy produces SO 
MUCH work that people have learned to deal with him. If Pynchon had a 
book a year, some fiction, some non-, then I get the feeling each might 
be accepted on its own terms. However, since he does not and eschews 
public life he will always be judged by GR. It's the price he pays for 
being a reclusive and intermittent writer. And I salute him for it.