NP BookCourt don delillo is reading here tonight at 7pm for POINT OMEGA

[rich]

being a native New Yorker and baseball nut, the prologue to Underworld
really resonates w/ me (my Dad went to these games in 40s and 50s and beyond
and there is a definite sad nostalgia that I think Delillo taps into--but I
was only talking about the beginning of Underworld, not the whole book,
which is not as good as The Names, and Libra, IMHO)

I, too think AtD is underrated (and IV overrated)--but Pynchon, for me,
stands out, in that he has continues to write big, challenging, novels, man,
real novels, a lost art if you ask me. even what I would call shitty is
still not dreadful (and if in IV's case, it speaks to and comments, and
brings insight to his others works, well, amen to that)

1970:

p.s. Martin Amis' new novel takes place in 1970--purportedly about feminism
(good god, who cares, mate)

and been listening to Miles Davis Live at the cellar Door, December 1970--6
CD live box--wonderful, raunchy, shit, y'all

rich

On Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 10:24 AM, Carvill, John <john.carvill at sap.com>wrote:

> > I will argue with any that the prologue, Pafko at the Wall, from
> Underworld, ranks among the best writing of the last 25 yrs, in this country
>
> That's fighting talk!
>
> Well, of course that is a bravura opening, although it maybe feels just a
> tad contrived - the author's delight in all the symbolism and resonances
> he's stirring in is right on the border of 'too clever-clever for its own
> good', imho. I enjoyed reading that section, but then the action shifted (a
> desert somewhere?) and I lost interest in the book.
>
> I don't think DeLillo really ranks anywhere near as high as Pynchon. I
> haven't read all his stuff, but I do feel he's a touch overrated. I loved
> Libra, and very much liked White Noise. Mao II was a huge disappointment.
>
> The way in which 'Against the Day' was overlooked will, I predict, come to
> be seen as the early 21st Century critics' invasion of Iraq, something
> people will forever shake their heads in bemusement at.
>
> I will argue with any that the first section alone, 'The Light Over The
> Ranges', is worth as much as any whole novel published in the last 20 years.
>
>
>
>
>
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