Pynchon vs. Pynchon

[gp]

Yeah, I'm around 80 in now and am rather stoked.  I am liking it far
better than I did the first 100 pages of M&D...  don't know what to
say at the moment as I don't want to ruin anything for anyone else.
Other than that I am quite excited.

Back to the book.

On 11/21/06, Otto <ottosell at googlemail.com> wrote:
> 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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