James Wood Ain't Afraid of Lit's Favorite Sons

[Paul Mackin]

On Sunday you could read the first chapter of his new book "How Fiction 
Works" free on the NY Times site. (not sure it's still there)

Very interesting.

In the article Paul N. pointed out, "James Wood"  gets referred to as "James 
Woods" (like the actor)

P


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dave Monroe" <against.the.dave at gmail.com>
To: "pynchon -l" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2008 9:18 AM
Subject: James Wood Ain't Afraid of Lit's Favorite Sons


> James Wood Ain't Afraid of Lit's Favorite Sons
> Updike might not enjoy this
> By Giles Harvey
> Tuesday, July 29th 2008
>
> [...]
>
> Literary criticism is perhaps an inherently pugnacious discipline, and
> it's certainly a dialectical one. Nietzsche said that "Every talent
> must unfold itself in fighting," and Wood is a case in point. Like a
> rude but virtuous provincial indifferent to the capital's elaborate
> codes of etiquette, Wood, an English expat, has attacked many of the
> dignitaries of contemporary American fiction in a way that has often
> scandalized the right-thinking classes. He deplores Updike for "That
> quality of fattened paganism [. . .] which finds the same degree of
> sensuality in everything, whether it is a woman's breast or an
> avocado." DeLillo is castigated for his "anxiety about having anyone
> of substance in [Underworld] unconnected to his central theme," an
> anxiety that "is not only irritatingly airless but itself begins to
> seem a little paranoid, as if he can employ only characters who are
> loyal to him and his agenda." Similarly inadequate are the "rapid,
> farce-like, overlit simplicities" of Pynchon, in whose novels
> "everyone is ultimately protected from real menace because no one
> really exists." ...
>
> [...]
>
> http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-07-29/books/james-wood-ain-t-afraid-of-lit-s-favorite-sons/
>