authors influenced by Pynchon

[Ya Sam]

In 1957 the Russians launch a dog named Laika into space. In 1960 Jennifer 
Several is born, in a mental asylum near Stratford upon Avon. Thirteen years 
later the precocious school girl seduces first Judd Axelrod, the half-caste 
son of a Hollywood starlet, and later Joel Kluge, a mathematical genius and 
Hasidic Jew.

But none of these three are prepared for the consequences. Judd finds 
himself delivered into the tender mercies of sinister psychoanalyst Dr 
Schemata, from whom he escapes through gambling. Joel becomes obsessed by 
the idea of using computers to explain the Holocaust, and carries his 
theories to ever stranger conclusions. Back in England a child with two 
fathers grows in Jennifer's womb. Above them all Laika, presumed dead, still 
orbits the Earth, drawing sustenance from the barrage of media that encases 
the planet as the twentieth century draws to a close.

The epic story of these characters is intertwined with a satire of 'digital 
revolution' and a teasing investigation into the links between the space 
race, mathematics and gambling in a narrative crackling with erudation and 
wit. Endlessly inventive and stimulating as well as moving, Habitus 
ultimately offers a philosophical vision of our relationship with the 
machines we create as well as the history which created us. Its publication 
announces one of Britain's most brilliant new writers.

http://www.jbf.dial.pipex.com/Habitus/habitus/blurbh.html

"Not since Thomas Pynchon exploded with 'Gravity's Rainbow' has a debut 
author tried to create such a scientifically transcendental universe.
Quantum theory, genetic mutations, Alan Turing, the secrets of cabalistic 
Judaism, Benoit Mandelbrot, Laika (the first dog in space), probability 
theory, JFK, the Intenet, fractals, predictive theories of gambling, 
Fermat's last theorem and the theological paradox of good and evil all have 
their place in this novel. Unsurprisingly, the plot sometimes gets a bit 
confusing and many people might buy this only to file it unfinished next to 
Stephen Hawkins' seminal 'A Brief History of Time'. Flint's attempt to 
rriake sense of the rise of information and the way it's changed our lives 
may be doomed to failure, but it's an entertaining ride. "

http://www.jbf.dial.pipex.com/Habitus/habitus/criticsh.html

Dans ce vaste roman-fresque, James Flint entraîne le lecteur dans une 
relecture époustouflante de la seconde partie du XXe siècle, retraçant avec 
brio les avancées technologiques majeures de cette période : comment la 
télévision puis l'ordinateur ont façonné nos vies en nous étouffant de 
données. Pour cela, il met en scène trois destins atypiques, trois 
personnages attachants qui vont tenter d'interpréter l'univers chacun à sa 
façon, mais qui tous périront sous les coups conjugués du hasard et de la 
fatalité, après avoir vainement cherché un sens au monde. Tour à tour 
réaliste dans sa description de la vie anglaise des années 60 et 70, lyrique 
dans ses envolées technologiques, ironique dans sa peinture du progrès, nous 
baladant de Stratford à Oxford, de Las Vegas à la Suisse, Flint nous 
embarque dans une aventure-relecture du monde contemporain, de la science et 
de ses leurres. Avec Habitus, Pynchon a trouvé un digne successeur – et il 
est anglais.

http://www.amazon.fr/Habitus-James-Flint/dp/2846260389

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