Gaddis & Pynchon

[Tom Beshear]

This IS good news. My pb copies were bought in the mid-80s -- the pages are 
yellowed and the spines are quite stiff. Does anyone know: Is that Gaddis in 
the cover photo of The Recognitions?

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <eburns at gmail.com>
To: "rich" <richard.romeo at gmail.com>; <owner-pynchon-l at waste.org>; "David 
Morris" <fqmorris at gmail.com>
Cc: "P-list" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2011 12:07 PM
Subject: Re: Gaddis & Pynchon


> A-and the new covers are really swell.
>
> A book of Gaddis' correspondence is also in the pipeline, thanks to the 
> tireless steve moore.
>
> Gaddis is the perfect gateway drug to Pynchon, and vice versa. Together 
> they take you from the 1940s in America through the current day. Plus 
> Mason & Dixon.
>
> Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com>
> Sender: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org
> Date: Wed, 5 Oct 2011 11:39:54
> To: David Morris<fqmorris at gmail.com>
> Cc: P-list<pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Subject: Re: Gaddis & Pynchon
>
> fwiw...Dalkey is re-publishing both TR and JR in January at reasonable
> $12 bucks each
>
> On Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 9:31 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I recently finished listening (not reading - cheating, I know.) The
>> Recognitions, and am convinced that Pynchon read it, for many reasons.
>> If it did influence Pynchon, it can be most readily seen in V. The
>> scathing satire, the vast "whole sick crew," the wrap-up fates of so
>> many (especially the "febes") at the end.
>>
>> That said, I decided to buy the audio book of JR, and started it last
>> night. I think it will require a bit more focus than TR. But pulling
>> up the Wiki page for JR, I found the following:
>>
>> **This chaotic writing style may, some critics argue, reflect Gaddis'
>> preoccupation with entropy and with the 20th century's rejection of
>> Newtonian physics, the narrative style thus reflecting a quantum and
>> Heisenbergian world of "waste, flux and chaos."**
>>
>> And:
>>
>> **Gaddis himself wrote in an essay, "the more complex the message, the
>> greater the chance for error. Entropy rears as a central preoccupation
>> of our time." In J R, entropy manifests itself as "a malign and
>> centrifugal force of cosmic disruption at work scattering everything
>> in [people's] heads, homes and work"**
>>
>> Again, parallels w/ TRP.
>>
>> David Morris
>>
>