BlogCritics Review of Inherent Vice

[Carvill, John]

> Campbel Morgan wrote:

> The BlogCritic misquotes the famous opening of GR. Not good when you  
> consider his audience and purpose.

	When you have cartoonish laugh-out-loud characters who
	might have crossed over from a Carl Hiaasen mystery, and
	scenarios evocative of a Tom Robbins novel, you'll be highly
	entertained by some escapist fare, but not necessarily
	transported as with a visionary work, or entranced by some kind
	of literary "screaming across the sky."

http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-inherent-vice-by-thomas
/page-2/

> Robin > Sounds like a knowing paraphrase 


Yes, whatever you think of the review, surely that "screaming across the
sky" is a reasonable paraphrase. We know what he means. Maybe he hasn't
used it in the most elegant way, but it's definitely not a 'misquote'.

As for the (very tired) idea that Pynchon's post-GR novels don't
'measure up', apart from asking 'well, which other novels, by anyone,
do?', I would say that Mason & Dixon is a hell of an achievement, as is
ATD. Some of Pynchon's post-GR books certainly contain passages, or
elements, which are the equal of, or even (gasp) better than, parts of
GR.

IV is a very funny book, which exhibits Pynchon's late-period largeness
of heart, emotional warmth, and sense of, for want of a better phrase
early this pre-caffiene morning, going with the flow. It's, ahem,
mellow. Man. It is unmistakably, classic Pynchon, and yet it's not. It
seems, on the surface, to lack many Pynchonian aspects, and it *does*
delay in turning strange. But it's a rash (or dumb) critic who would
declare it 'too light' or insignificant, or baldly state that there are
none of those typical Pyncon interconnections, resonances, hidden
meanings etc. buried in there....


Cheers
JC