NP

[tbeshear]

Yes. At the time I thought that if the genre disappeared after the trilogy's 
publication, nothing important would be lost. The Mars Trilogy is a summing 
up of a certain type of mainline SF, crosspollinated with KSR's utopian 
interests.
(I'm glad the genre continued, of course. Writers KSR references --  
especially Ian McDonald*, who is one of the best prose stylists the genre 
ever produced and one of the best writers in the UK, period -- are doing 
important work.) KSR is using a bit of hyperbole, but he's right. The Booker 
is far too interested in the historical novel; it's telling that the UK's 
literary establishment is so focused on its past.
I don't mean to slight Pynchon by that -- I know he characterizes himself as 
a historical novelist. He puts it to very modern (or postmodern) uses.

*I recommend his "River of Gods" and "Brasyl" as examples of writing about 
non-Western cultures without resorting to historical novel forms.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Otto" <ottosell at googlemail.com>
To: "Mark Kohut" <markekohut at yahoo.com>
Cc: "pynchon -l" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2009 11:05 AM
Subject: NP


> Has anybody read Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars-Trilogy?
>
> 2009/9/18 Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>:
>> http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/sep/18/science-fiction-booker-prize
>>
>>
>>
>>