The Recognitions

[Richard Ryan]

I'm not sure I'd be willing to participate - at least not yet - in
pinning the negativity tail on the TR donkey - are Chaucer or Voltaire
or Camus negative?  Gaddis is certainly savage about human foibles -
but does he think the human condition in general is a bad hand of
cards?  Maybe later events in the novel will convince me otherwise,
but I'm not there at this point.

On Fri, May 6, 2011 at 11:45 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
> I've mentioned that I gave up on it my 1st time, and I think it
> did/does have something to do with the smart-ass negativity.  He is
> always making these obtuse pronouncements through various characters.
> But this time around I'm listening to it via audiobook on my Kindle
> (which really isn't the same as reading it), so I can just let it flow
> on without working too hard at it.  I can also back up and re-listen,
> sometimes 2 or 3 times.  And I gave my TR book away about 2 years ago
> (shelf spring cleaning), so I can't read along unless I buy another
> (don't think I will).
>
> David Morris
>
> On Fri, May 6, 2011 at 9:34 AM, Michael Bailey
> <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> wrote:
>> well, each one is a gobstopper of a book.
>>
>> I didn't latch onto TR first attempt but this time I'm getting some joy from it
>> - things I like:
>>
>> a) while I sort of disagree with a sort of pervasive negativity, I enjoy letting the virtuosity evident all over the place overwhelm that.  it's like talking with certain friends who are great conversationalists but start from a negative viewpoint in many cases but have a lot of worthwhile matter to impart
>
>



-- 
Richard Ryan
New York and the World
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