AtD review: Roller coaster in the dark

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

Thank you so much, Otto, for this brief burst of sanity:

"The odd thing is that the earlier a verdict on the new 
Pynchon was published, the harsher and worse-tempered it was."

"The first American reviews of the new Pynchon spoke with an 
astonishingly aggressive anti-intellectualism and a tangible 
weariness with literature that experiments with language 
itself and ventures to try out more complex forms than we 
are familiar with from the annual crop of late works by the 
likes of Philip Roth and John Updike. More generally, the 
American zeitgeist currently seems to have little time for 
any kind of innovation in literature – if it ever did."

"Three things save Pynchon's "Against the Day" from that fate. 
Firstly the political commitment of the novel, which can be 
read as a swan song for anarchism as a political alternative. . . ."

And this is where Denis Sheck and  I part company. I see the 
book as a paean to American Anarchy, a tribute to its 
phenomanal resiliance, with sly nudges pointing to modern 
day equivalents. 

"Secondly, Thomas Pynchon has, in his own way, actually 
written a family novel in "Against the Day.""

As he did in Vineland, just overloaded with modern day 
stand-ins for the sorts of folks we encounter in "Against the
Day".

"Thirdly – and this unfortunately gets a bit forgotten among 
all the fuss about how dreadfully demanding he is of his 
readers – Pynchon's perhaps greatest strength is his humour."

"I love Gweat Britain, Lord Salsbury is my wole model!"

Otto: Roller coaster in the dark
Denis Sheck maintains that in spite of what his American critics say,
Thomas Pynchon's "Against the Day" is a masterpiece

http://www.signandsight.com/features/1158.html