pynchon mention in Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan

[rich]

for some reason I've been drawn to more British fiction lately--James
Meek's new novel is up next and after that Zadie Smith's. maybe the
distance helps. i am fascinated by Cambridge, spies, and stories of a
declining empire and its intelligence services. I would've said thats
what dre me to Sweet Tooth but that's not why I ended up liking the
book. good fiction does that I think.

Nic Tosches' new novel Me and the Devil has blurbs from jonny depp,
keith richards, jon turturro--the book is dreadful. didnt last to 50
pgs. celebrity blurbs, avoid those books ;) the sexual gutter outlaw.
men who don't grow up. how tiresome

On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 7:54 PM, Bekah <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> I'm glad you liked it, Rich.  Most of my friends who read it (a very small reading group)  also enjoyed it - especially the ending.   From what I've seen,  the on-line reviews and blogs seem to be split also.
>
> Bekah
>
>
> On Dec 18, 2012, at 9:04 AM, rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Not terribly familiar with McEwan's work but there was something I
>> liked about Sweet Tooth--halfway thru I was concerned wondering where
>> he was going with it but have to say I enjoyed the way he concluded
>> the book. I liked it alot more than Saturday that's for sure. I
>> expected a different novel but I stuck with it and glad that I did.
>> It's not mind-blowing but the major relationship was fine. I usually
>> dont like that kinda stuff.
>> would like to say more but yeah that would give too much away. I dont
>> see any way to compare to IV though there are a couple of Pynchon
>> mentions
>> rich
>>
>> On Sun, Dec 16, 2012 at 6:19 PM, Bekah <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>>> I've read both IV and Sweet Tooth.   On the surface Sweet Tooth is "about" the  MI5 Secret Service in Britain and how they hire a woman to "nurture" a budding author into writing pro-capitalist novels.  (heh)   It's set during the culture wars of the 1970s.
>>>
>>> The book is far more about lit theory than it is about end-game Cold War spies.  It's about reader response,  author is dead,  irony- parody  stuff and more, but I can't elaborate without serious spoilers.
>>>
>>> McEwan is excellent at pacing and tension building - I wish he'd go back to his pre-Amsterdam / Booker Prize days.   I did enjoy On Chesil Beach and Saturday but Black Dogs was his best, imo - and Sweet Tooth his worst (still worth reading though).
>>>
>>> Pynchon's doesn't use literary devices and concepts as themes as far as I know, although he certainly uses many.  His themes are more political with some entropy and paranoia and a sense of inter-connectedness.   Even IV had a political theme coupled with a certain paranoia.
>>>
>>> There's no real sense of paranoia or politics in Sweet Tooth in spite of the MI5/Cold War connection.  He's done better with that in prior novels -  (Black Dogs).
>>>
>>> Bekah
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Dec 16, 2012, at 1:21 PM, Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at verizon.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 12/16/2012 3:19 PM, Markekohut wrote:
>>>>> I haven't read a word of this novel, nor even  a whole review--just headlines---but now you have me fascinated.....mcEwan doing a portrait of himself at his modal turn?....as you present it, somehow like inherent Vice in some thematic way?
>>>>
>>>> Hope I'm not misleading.
>>>>
>>>> P
>>>>>
>>>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>>>
>>>>> On Dec 16, 2012, at 12:10 PM, Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at verizon.net> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> On 12/16/2012 7:19 AM, Markekohut wrote:
>>>>>>> McEwan's early work, 70's, is much closer to TRP's than later. In this country, some of it appeared in the lauded New American Review.
>>>>>> A young McEwan and his earlier work is obliquely alluded to in this latest novel.  The male lead in Sweet Tooth, Tom Haley, seems to be much like McEwan was, writes with that postmodern malaise of the post-sixties. Martin Amis also appears briefly in the book.  I'm only two-thirds through but kind of think the modal change the author has undergone may be part of the point of this novel.  But I must wait and see.  And also we don't want to lose sight of the fact that book also involves an MI5 caper.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> P
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I know of a lunch TRP was quietly at, w Faith Sale, that'd included an editor of that mag and another writer-editor ( of lit mag), Jerome Charyn.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Circumstantial evidence now suggests their friendship probably started around then, or earlier?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Dec 15, 2012, at 8:00 PM, Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at verizon.net> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The novel is as much about books as it is about spy catching.  On p 224 we're in the London mansion of Tom Maschler of Jonathan Cape. Maschler is pummeling a promising young writer with questions and asks, did he realize that the elusive Pynchon had sat in that same chair the day before . . .  Time is early seventies.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> P
>>>>
>>>
>