Franzen and Pynchon

[Lemuel Underwing]

Vollman has an interesting Article in this month's *Harper's *as well where
he details his recently Obtained (via Freedom of Information Act request)
FBI file, he was suspected of being the Unabomber-- but wait! there's
more....

Rereading that Franzen piece it was more... palatable... a few of his
off-handed remarks in the early paragraphs rubbed me the wrong way and I
had a bit of Wine in me from dinner so...
I enjoy reading his work... perhaps it just makes me... scared? As one who
always oafishly found in P. a benign paternal influence I'm just waking up
to the terror of his inescapable breadth, but then again that's probably
just another hallucination equally naive as the Benevolent one.


On Sun, Aug 18, 2013 at 2:46 PM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:

> *Andrew Cohen* @CBSAndrew 1m<http://us-mg4.mail.yahoo.com/CBSAndrew/status/369182308537864192>
> Unfortunately, Vollman's fascinating piece, "Life as a Terrorist," won't
> be posted online until this Thursday, August 22nd.
>
>
>   *From:* Tom Beshear <tbeshear at att.net>
> *To:* eburns at gmail.com; rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com>;
> owner-pynchon-l at waste.org; Lemuel Underwing <luunderwing at gmail.com>
> *Cc:* Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>; P-list List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> *Sent:* Sunday, August 18, 2013 10:03 AM
>
> *Subject:* Re: Franzen and Pynchon
>
>  Franzen retreated into social realism, with welcome touches of the
> comic. He does what he does but it's not on a level with P. or DFW or WTV
> -- Europe Central is a masterpiece and I hope he lives to finish the Seven
> Dreams.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* eburns at gmail.com
> *To:* rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> ; owner-pynchon-l at waste.org ; Lemuel
> Underwing <luunderwing at gmail.com>
> *Cc:* Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net> ; P-list List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> *Sent:* Sunday, August 18, 2013 6:43 AM
> *Subject:* Re: Franzen and Pynchon
>
> A-and Franzen has to know he's not even playing in the same league! It's
> hard to imagine any American writer not being "influenced" and/or in awe of
> Pynchon and Gaddis, but of course the challenge is to move beyond,
> through...not get stuck in.
>
> There are some examples: Vollman springs to mind (his "You Bright and
> Risen Angels" was certainly influenced by TRP, but he has gone off on a
> frolic of his own (with mixed, but always fascinating) results. Foster
> Wallace is another example. There are many others.
> Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
>  *From: *rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com>
> *Sender: *owner-pynchon-l at waste.org
> *Date: *Sat, 17 Aug 2013 20:16:00 -0400
> *To: *Lemuel Underwing<luunderwing at gmail.com>
> *Cc: *Joseph Tracy<brook7 at sover.net>; P-list List<pynchon-l at waste.org>
> *Subject: *Re: Franzen and Pynchon
>
> Malcolm Lowry was practically driven to despair by as he saw it the
> onerous influence of past masters. Figured Franzen got it out of his system
> with his excoriation of William Gaddis in the New Yorker. Guess Franzen
> hasn't
>
>
> On Sat, Aug 17, 2013 at 7:37 PM, Lemuel Underwing <luunderwing at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>  I have a subscription and ran out to the mailbox after reading your
> post, Joseph.
> My goodness was that article unbearable.... Franzen never casts off
> Pynchon, and is effectively subsumed by him along with others, I don't know
> how he got so popular except as perhaps a "Fad"...
>
> That said I still enjoy Harpers, if only because I currently cannot afford
> a sub. to Lapham's Quarterly...
>
>
> On Sat, Aug 17, 2013 at 9:32 AM, Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net> wrote:
>
> There is an article in the new Harper's(sept 2013) by J Franzen  titled A
> Different Kind of Father in which he reviews the role of Pynchon as a
> literary "father" he later rejected.
>
> The issue also has a good article by  William Vollman on his experience
>  with the FBI  and Border Agents along with FOIA research into his FBI
> files. For no discernible reason he was a suspect in the unabomber case.
> Not quite Slothrop but Kafkaesque with a side of Marx brothers.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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