Pynchon/Vollmann

[Kyle Sturgeon]

I joined the list for the sole purpose of commenting on this rather
insightful and important post.  Apologies for the brief, incomplete
response--I'm in a big hurry.

1.  Pynchonoid, if you read Vollmann's list of favorite books you will find
nothing by Pynchon.  He claims, and we have every reason to believe, that he
didn't read GR until after the publication of his first book.  It is
reasonable to believe that Vollmann, a comparative literature major at
Cornell (after Deep Springs) was familiar with Pynchon.  On the other hand,
Vollmann's taste are overwhelmingly international.  The complex point I'm
botching is that Vollmann is probably more influenced by Pynchon than he
admits; he probably read V. and Crying prior to Cornell.  But a close
reading of his work truly shows an influence by the Eastern European/Asian
authors he cites.  Vollmann is by nature overtly candid, a very
un-Pynchonesque maneuverer.

2.  I subscribe to a mutant strain of Bloom's Theory of Anxiety of
Influence.  (Of course, mine is a weak misreading, as Bloom would likely
accuse.)  I think your reduction, pynchonoid, is rather thoughtless.
Pynchon's most recent novel does, in fact, reek of Vollmann's influence
(with wildly different prose styles of course, and this is understandable,
given how long Pynchon has been writing and his penchant for parody).  Also,
think about Mason & Dixon, think again, and then consider Vollmann's Seven
Dreams books (1990, '92, '94) published prior to MD.  It starts to appear
that a massive, large-scale Anxiety of Influence is in action.  Europe
Central vs. Gravity's Rainbow.  Some striking thematic similarities, some
monumental differences.  (The previous sentence is mentioned as evidence for
an anxiety of influence.)

I personally think Vollmann, along with the wildly misunderstood Michel
Houellebecq (the new Possibility of an Island is a masterpiece of
anti-bourgeois styling, self-parody, post-modern allegory), is among the
best fiction writers at work.  I do believe that the current era of novel
writing (English language), a few generations from now, will at least
partially be seen under the lens of an epic anxiety of influence b/w
Vollmann and Pynchon.  Both ways of course.

I want to be clear that I'm not siding with Vollmann in some kind of
contest.  Pynchon too, I believe, is misunderstood, by Pynchon-l subscribers
and certain NYT book reviewers alike.  There is a lack of nuance to both the
rabid fanboydom and cold-shouldering on both sides.

But for my money, they are two of the best novelists of the 20th/21st
centuries.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20061122/369960e4/attachment.html>