Wood's "common reader"

[Tom Beshear]

McElroy's most recent book was a collection of short stories: Night Soul and Other Stories from Dalkey Archive. It's pretty good. Women and Men is a project novel on the scale of GR or Ulysses, but even longer than those. It requires a huge commitment of time.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: David Morris 
  To: Keith Davis 
  Cc: Markekohut ; alice wellintown ; pynchon -l 
  Sent: Monday, October 22, 2012 6:16 AM
  Subject: Re: Wood's "common reader"


  I've only read "An actress in the house," which I enjoyed.  It's much shorter than "men and Women," written much earlier, and supposed to be great, but very long.

  On Monday, October 22, 2012, Keith Davis wrote:

    I'm checking this guy out. Thanks. Where to start?


    On Sun, Oct 21, 2012 at 10:26 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

        I like postmodernism only when it intends to be serious in its reach.

        http://www.goldenhandcuffsreview.com/gh14content/Heppner.pdf 


      What constitutes a Joseph McElroy novel? Let’s start by throwing out the stupid and obvious. It’s not length because McElroy can be succinct and frequently is. It’s not the supposed thorny and compacted nature of the sentences because McElroy can be transparent when he wants to be. (From Women and Men, page 516: “Chick never had as much homework as Gordon.They did not discuss school. Chick got strapped by his mother once in a while and his mother gave him orange juice for supper instead of milk.”) It’s not whatever he might have in common with some of his contemporaries, the Pynchons and Gaddises, because quite honestly I don’t see it. I see Proust, I see James, but not Coover or Barth. Don’t let the pub dates fool you: Joseph McElroy is not a postmodernist.The seriousness of his mission and his concern with inner landscapes—memory, suppressed trauma—locate him closer to the modernist sensibility of Picasso and Schoenberg than the postmodern, street-beat vibe of Warhol and rock and roll. 




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