Jennifer Egan on TRP and the Nobel Prize

[Kai Frederik Lorentzen]

Erik says:

>>  They didn't give a Nobel to Gaddis. That shows you
>>  what the prize is worth.


But they /did/ give it to Beckett, Faulkner and Thomas Mann.

Samuel Beckett was likely the last winner to whom everyone could say "Yes!"


Matthew asks:

>
>  Why is that everyone wants a Swan Song? Some romantic inclination perhaps? Joyce was
>  apparently planning something much 'lighter' after the Wake was finished. Does this
>  make a writer any less of a writer? Must their last gasp
>  coincide with the final word of the opus maestro?
>


Not necessarily. The last three novels of Thomas Mann ("Die Entstehung 
des Doktor Faustus"; "Der Erwählte"; "Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers 
Felix Krull") were much 'lighter' than "Doktor Faustus", "Der 
Zauberberg", or "Joseph und seine Brüder".  But I can recommend "The 
Holy Sinner" and "Confessions of Felix Krull" whole-heartedly. The 
latter one is, by the way, a Picaro-novel, which brings us back to 
Pynchon. 'Lightness' is no counter-argument as such; the quarrel should 
always be about a novel's specific quality. So don't get me wrong: 
"Vineland" is a very good book!

On 06.10.2011 23:34, Matthew Cissell wrote:

> Faint praise indeed for Egan. but true, no need to bash.
>
> As for the unawarded... Joyce, Borges, Nabakov (etc.) is not a bad group to be in with.
>
> Why is that everyone wants a Swan Song? Some romantic inclination perhaps? Joyce was apparently planning something much 'lighter' after the Wake was finished. Does this make a writer any less of a writer? Must their last gasp coincide with the final word of the opus maestro?
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Erik T. Burns<eburns at gmail.com>
> To: Heikki Raudaskoski<hraudask at sun3.oulu.fi>
> Cc: pynchon-l<pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Sent: Thursday, October 6, 2011 11:01 PM
> Subject: Re: Jennifer Egan on TRP and the Nobel Prize
>
> no need to bash Egan. Goon Squad is perfectly acceptable mainstream
> fiction and loads better than the typical bestseller.
>
> I have to agree that IV, amusing as it might be, is not a career capper for TRP.
>
> DeLillo may be doing the same thing, noodling around at the tail of
> his career far away from the (many) peaks of his work up until Mao II
> or thereabouts.
>
> My person opinion? They didn't give a Nobel to Gaddis. That shows you
> what the prize is worth. TRP doesn't need a Nobel: he has Gravity's
> Rainbow with his name on it. And Mason&  Dixon. A-and V. And The
> Crying of Lot 49.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 6, 2011 at 8:12 PM, Heikki Raudaskoski
> <hraudask at sun3.oulu.fi>  wrote:
>>
>> I guess I should provide some context. The interviewer writes
>> that according to Egan, it would be a huge surprise if an
>> American writer won the prize. Then he quotes her, starting with
>> the TRP bit I translated. She continues: "My favorite is Philip
>> Roth who has maintained a high standard. A wild card might be
>> Don DeLillo."
>>
>> FWIW, according to LA Times, Egan "is not shy about looking to
>> such writers as Marcel Proust and [presumably earlier] Thomas
>> Pynchon and John Updike and Philip Roth as inspiration."
>> http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/29/entertainment/la-et-jennifer-egan-20110429/2
>>
>>
>> Heikki
>>
>> On Thu, 6 Oct 2011, rich wrote:
>>
>>> gore vidal? hated pynchon and let folks know it but surely a writer
>>> one would want to read
>>> Egan's last book is very much in the DeLillo-Great Jones Street family
>>> than Pynchon
>>>
>>> On Thu, Oct 6, 2011 at 9:30 AM, Otto<ottosell at googlemail.com>  wrote:
>>>> I will never read Jennifer Egan.
>>>>
>>>> 2011/10/6 rich<richard.romeo at gmail.com>:
>>>>> one can agree about the IV sentiment; i'm still hoping Pynchon will
>>>>> wind up his career in some fantastic way to wash away the rotten
>>>>> blabber of the last two books
>>>>>
>>>>> rich
>>>>>
>>>>> On Thu, Oct 6, 2011 at 8:29 AM, Heikki Raudaskoski
>>>>> <hraudask at sun3.oulu.fi>  wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "I think Thomas Pynchon is out of the game. He hit rock bottom with
>>>>>> Inherent Vice that came out a couple of years ago. Even Elmore Leonard
>>>>>> at his worst outdoes it."
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Jennifer Egan as interviewed by Helsingin Sanomat, the leading Finnish
>>>>>> newspaper. October 6, 2011. Translation mine.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Heikki
>>>>>>
>
>

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