Misc.Appetizer, to invigorate posters into reacting, kinda like chum....

[Michael Bailey]

if for the sake of argument we assume there is something like a zeitgeist,
and that a large novel may not only emblematize but in its heyday also
form part of it...

then certainly IJ is somewhat comparable to GR in that respect

and objections to IJ's pervasive anhedonia such as those I myself raise...

(eg: if we assume further a quantum unit of something termed "fun",
the amount of "fun" depicted in IJ is as close to zero packets of said
substance as any book I have ever read, although for one who enjoys
reading, there is considerable fun appreciating talented
wordslinging...)

...are somewhat similar to objections raised toward GR by an older
generation of readers when GR appeared on the scene ("already a
legend")
objections raised by the NBA (Wilt Chamberlin said it was turgid and
obscene, IIRC)

and are as indicative of the tastes or, to be more judgemental, even
prejudices of those who object on these grounds as of any innate
quality in the reading material...
...which tastes themselves are to a significant degree formed by said
zeitgeist referred to in the first clause (of which the big books are
part), and which are reflective of the consequences or sequelae or
backlash of one generation's zeitgeist in the mindset of the next
(perhaps see Coupland's Generation X for a less elegant refutation of
the hippie truths enshrined in GR than that emblazoned upon IJ...)

n'est ca pas?

but I still like GR better...



On Wed, Jul 20, 2011 at 12:34 PM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
> before I start posting on TR, Pt2, C2.....
>
> Have been reading Infinite Jest.  He ain't no Pynchon.
>
> And I'd rather reread Gaddis; infinitely deeper (and depth matters) ; and
> read many other less proclaimed writers.
>
> I mean.....some set pieces of non-infinite pleasure and insight.....into
> depression, say,
> (but done better by Styron).......and a few other things....................
>
> Refute me flamingly.............
> .
>
>
>
>