Fw: eGad: forthcoming Pynchon novel

[eburns at gmail.com]

Gaddis maven, novelist and publisher (via Dalkey Archive) Steven Moore has read -_Bleeding Edge_ and given Gaddis-l members a glowing preview -- see below. 


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From: "Steven Moore" <mooresteven at att.net>
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Date: Sun, 14 Jul 2013 06:19:22 
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Cc: <judech at aol.com>; Tom McGonigle<tmcgonigle at hotmail.com>; <mchale.11 at osu.edu>; Stephen Burn<Stephen.burn at glasgow.ac.uk>; joseph tabbi<jtabbi at gmail.com>
Subject: eGad: forthcoming Pynchon novel

Since there are some Pynchon fans on this List, I just finished reading the new novel (bound galley courtesy a former publishing contact), and it's terrific. Publisher probably doesn't want any rogue reviews this early in the game, so I'll limit myself to saying that it's like a cross between Inherent Vice (comic tone) and Lot 49 (another woman investigating an ever-deepening mystery).
Set in NYC between early 2001 and early '02. (The 9/11 attack is an event, but not the main event.) 479 pages of vintage Pynchon: insane complications, clever/awful puns, funny acronyms--e.g. the Wahhabi Transreligious Friendship (WTF)--lots of slang, shoptalk and technical terms (especially Internet & financial lingo), poetic imagery, pop-culture references, snappy dialogue, ethnic humor, and of course a large cast of colorful characters with ... ahm ... distinctive names: on one page alone we meet Axel Quigley, Phipps Epperdew, and Professor Lavoof, "generally acknowledged godfather of Disgruntlement Theory and developer of the influential Disgruntled Employee Simulation Program for Audit Information and Review, aka DESPAIR" (p. 87). Only a passing reference to ukuleles this time, but a couple-three Hawaiian shirts and other displays of loud clothing.

As in Vineland, there are amusing references to imaginary movies, including a snatch of dialogue from Christopher Walken starring in The Chi Chi Rodriguez Story, along with dark intimations about "the terminal truth about the U.S. government, worse than anything you can imagine" (p. 117). 

So smart, so funny, so hip, so plugged in to everything. This is bound to be the novel of the season, despite some heavy competition (see http://www.themillions.com/2013/07/most-anticipated-the-great-second-half-2013-book-preview.html, which through some clerical error or other includes a reference to my forthcoming book.)

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