Pynchon vs. Pynchon

[Otto]

>From the first 30 pages I've got to say: it's marvellous!

Otto

2006/11/21, Ya Sam <takoitov at hotmail.com>:
> The recent attack on AtD by people who undoubtedly skimmed the book or just
> 'swallowed' it to meet the deadline might be just a bad case of verbal
> diarrhoea. It's also such an ego-boosting enterprise for a revewer to trash
> a Pynchon book. "Tell us a story granma Michiko! OK, little ones, once upon
> a time I wrote a hatching review of Thomas Pynchon's novel..." Who would
> remember Kakutani in half a century from now? More or less intelligent or
> coherent reviews will start appearing at least in a month from now.  Whether
> it's praise or criticism, it should have a decent level of argumentation,
> not the asinine claims like 'it's too big, I can't read, ergo it's crap' or
> 'it's not Gravity's Rainbow II' (I personally don't want GR II, neither I
> would like to read Ulysses II or Crime and Punishment II (hey there is a
> Catch 22 #2 of sorts, does it compare??). Yes GR is his crowning achievement
> so far, but he's trying to tread new terrains with his other novels,
> therefore they should be accepted on their own terms. So far I've read only
> 25 pages of AtD (thank you, you know who :-) and I liked them a lot.
>
> Pynchon said 'let the reader decide, let the reader beware', so I, as a
> reader, will decide for myself what to make of AtD when it finally arrives.
>
>
> >From: helms2 <helms2 at clemson.edu>
> >To: Jim Gilbert <posthorn at gmail.com>
> >CC: Pynchon List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> >Subject: Re: Pynchon vs. Pynchon
> >Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 12:53:33 -0500
> >
> >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.
>
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