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

[Mark Kohut]

Here's my so subtle,-- he convinces himself ---response---which others might laugh at as self-contradictory
if not just confused----to that essay on that novel which I do know.
 
yes, the novel is not very good. But not for most of the reasons DFW gives. Yes, DFW
is also a GMN, as were so many writers---see Fiedler's classic book---and it is not necessarily
a term of approbation, I agree......

From: Erik T. Burns <eburns at gmail.com>
To: Richard Ryan <himself at richardryan.com>
Cc: Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>; pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2011 1:47 AM
Subject: Re: Misc.Appetizer, to invigorate posters into reacting, kinda like chum....

DAMNIT, now I will have to read "Toward the End of Time."

after all, the wiki says: "It is interesting to note that all of the
book's chapters begin with the letter "D""

DFW's review makes it seem like it would be amusing to read, if nothing else.

a-and isn't DFW a bit of a GMN himself? at least in his nonfiction
prose? (I would hardly consider it a term of approbation...)

On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 1:37 AM, Richard Ryan <himself at richardryan.com> wrote:
> You're referring to the following, Mark?  Just read the first few graphs
> (and haven't read the Updike novel, "Toward the End of Time", under review)
> but it does, indeed, look brutal.....
>
> http://www.badgerinternet.com/~bobkat/observer1.html
>
> Intriguingly, the Wikipedia entry for "Toward the End of Time" mentions both
> the DFW review and a much more favorable Margaret Atwood appraisal.  Makes
> one want to read the contested text....
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toward_the_End_of_Time
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 20, 2011 at 5:35 PM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>> yeah,,,,,that might be my first enemy-making charge: his fiction is
>> sometimes nicely embroidered non-fiction
>> and stand-up comic set pieces..........
>>
>> Except that I think his famous essay on a late Updike novel, reprinted
>> often, is ...........simply wrong.
>>
>> And, he is more like Updike, sea-changed, than he ever would admit...
>>
>> "Yu think I diss Updike, you shoudda heard Wallace"----Franzen on book
>> tour..........
>> From: Richard Ryan <himself at richardryan.com>
>> To: Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>
>> Cc: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>> Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 2:23 PM
>> Subject: Re: Misc.Appetizer, to invigorate posters into reacting, kinda
>> like chum....
>>
>> Haven't tried DFW's fiction yet. His essays are quite wonderful.  I've
>> been avoiding the fiction out of fear that the numerous dissenters are
>> right, but ultimately one must decide for oneself, no?
>>
>> 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.............
>> .
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Richard Ryan
>> New York and the World
>> ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
>> "The reasonable man adapts himself to the conditions that surround him.
>> The unreasonable man adapts surrounding conditions to himself. All progress
>> depends on the unreasonable man." - Shaw
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Richard Ryan
> New York and the World
> ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
> "The reasonable man adapts himself to the conditions that surround him. The
> unreasonable man adapts surrounding conditions to himself. All progress
> depends on the unreasonable man." - Shaw
>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20110721/cf7b743c/attachment.html>