authors influenced by Pynchon

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Is the fact that the author's name isn't mentioned supposed to be a Pynchonesque marketing trick?

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: Ya Sam <takoitov at hotmail.com>
>Sent: Oct 15, 2006 6:45 PM
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: Re: authors influenced by Pynchon
>
>
>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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