100 arabian nights and 1night

[Steven]

	It was just an off-the-cuff remark but...  Barth more consciously  
apes historical forms -- frame tales from the 1001 Nights -- and is  
more rigorous in following a pre-set form -- LETTERS, Chimera, Last  
Voyage.  Pynchon (excepting V) is more of an improvisationalist, his  
'tendrils' reaching places he mayn't even have foreseen before  
putting them down in words.  That strikes me as more romantic a bent.

	I love Sot-Weed and Giles very much, the latter, with the author's  
photo of his bald head mimicking some campus archway behind, and his  
bleak bitter expression eating its way off the page made some sort of  
(I thought) indelible mark on me.  But it went away after a certain  
number of jolly sailor shots.


On Sep 22, 2006, at 11:13 AM, Ya Sam wrote:

> Could I ask you to explain a bit this dichotomy? (I am dead  
> serious, not trying to pick on you or something).

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