Gaddis & Pynchon

[rich]

I believe it is
Gaddis was a good looking guy

On Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 12:27 PM, Tom Beshear <tbeshear at insightbb.com> wrote:
> 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
>>>
>>
>
>