authors influenced by Pynchon

[Ya Sam]

Almost bought it in Prague...


>From: "David Morris" <fqmorris at gmail.com>
>To: "Ya Sam" <takoitov at hotmail.com>
>CC: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: Re: authors influenced by Pynchon
>Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2006 09:33:36 -0500
>
>This book sure has a nice cover.  It sounds great from the review
>below.  Has anybody here actually read it?
>
>On 10/16/06, Ya Sam <takoitov at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>Jachym Topol
>>
>>City Sister Silver
>>
>>
>>"Despite its episodic feel, City Sister Silver isn't about plot. In 
>>essence,
>>this is a story *about* telling stories, and the events of the narrative
>>serve to that end. Topol, a playful mythomaniac and raconteur at heart,
>>embraces the tradition of oral storytelling and the accuracy-flaws 
>>inherent
>>in such babel. CSS of the East Germans," when thousands from that country
>>sought asylum in Prague's West German embassy in 1989); Native American
>>history-cum-legend; Old Bohemio-Celtic tribal-war tales; revisionist Greek
>>mythology (a re-imagining of Odysseus and Penelope that has Homer rolling 
>>in
>>his grave); mock-American tall-tales; Urban legends (a snuff film); modern
>>cliche's (a prison rape); Grimms' fairy tales; a riff on a fictional comic
>>book; and most unnerving, a chilling Auschwitz dream sequence, replete 
>>with
>>a talking-skeleton tour guide and an endless morass of human bones. 
>>Someone
>>is always telling a story in CSS, but the tales always entertain and 
>>engage;
>>they never seem forced, superfluous or pretentious.
>>
>>In raving about CSS to various friends, I found myself comparing Topol to 
>>a
>>host of different writers, and yet, as in all great literature, this novel
>>remains unique. Topol invokes everyone from fellow Czechs Bohumil Hrabal,
>>Franz Kafka and Jaroslav Hasek, to others such as Celine, Pynchon, 
>>Kerouac,
>>Irvine Welsh, Blaise Cendrars, and Anthony Burgess. Every reader will find
>>as many different comparisons (I saw one reviewer liken the novel to the
>>best of Gunther Grass and Salman Rushdie).
>>
>>One caveat, which is confession by Potok, and at first punctuation seems
>>arbitrary (e.g., Topol is fond of ellipses and the sentence
>>fragment-as-sentence). Like Burgess's Clockwork Orange and Welsh's
>>Trainspotting, it takes a good fifteen or twenty pages to get into the
>>rhythm of the slang, but once you get with it, the book flows like water.
>>Afterall, this is a book about the beauty and elasticity of language, and
>>the tales one can spin using creative language. Finally, I should point 
>>out
>>the smooth translation of this novel by Alex Zucker, who took on an
>>obviously gargantuan task, and who rounded out his duties with an engaging
>>translator's preface and insightful and erudite end notes."
>>
>>"Although it's a difficult book to handle in its Pynchonesque, Joycean
>>ambition, it rewards you with hundreds of vignettes, miniature scenes 
>>pulled
>>out of reveries and terrors for our delight and instruction. A more 
>>serious
>>book at its core than the punkish surface may let on, the respect for 
>>mercy,
>>faith, and humanity beneath the mayhem and alienation reminds us that the
>>search for enduring values persists in the most unlikely fictional and
>>factual terrains. And, like Dante at his quest's end, somehow he sees and
>>does not see his Beatrice again. At least that's my guess. See for 
>>yourself.
>>This book marvelously conjures up images from its descriptions, and you 
>>too
>>drift through space."
>>
>>
>>http://www.amazon.com/City-Sister-Silver-Jachym-Topol/dp/0945774451
>>
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>>
>
>
>--
>David Morris

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