Book Review: 'Bleeding Edge,' by Thomas Pynchon (WSJ)

[John Bailey]

"Hideous genius" - a quick skip 'n a jump from from "evil mastermind".
But I can see why a WSJ writer would see this as the manifesto of an
arch-enemy. Back to naming names. But which names you focus on depends
on your perspective. Same hatred for this book could come from a
left-leaning liberal, a libertarian nihilist, a Tea Partier or
terrorist.

"I am laughter and tears on every page." That I like. Especially from
Alice. Both/And...



On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 9:05 PM, Markekohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Sam Sacks' " hideous genius".....what a passive-aggressive critical phrase....what a way to say
> Unclassifiable genius....but then he does grant him " myth making" power.....
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On Sep 18, 2013, at 11:47 PM, Jill Adams <grladams at teleport.com> wrote:
>
>> Yes just google the title and it all comes up.. Or go to your Library and look on the newspaper rack!
>>
>> "The more directly Mr. Pynchon confronts true events, the more his themes and plotting lose their metaphoric resonance and seem instead like straw-man targets for a conspiratorial worldview." -Sam Sacks
>>
>> I agree. I'm only in the first chapter but I get told too clearly what's going on, he doesn't paint a massive painting then stand me before it to gaze and reread sentences.  So little is hanging shimmering with that quality that made me think ..what if... he means 3 things at once? His voice is there, my friend is talking to me, so at least that's a comfort. And I see Sam agrees that his most beautiful one was M&D..
>>
>> Jill
>>
>>
>>
>> SAM SACKS
>> Thomas Pynchon is the Richard Wagner of American fiction. This isn't only because his magnum opus, "Gravity's Rainbow" (1973), about the quest for a devastating V-2 rocket secreted inside Nazi Germany, both parodies and embraces the epic Teutonic insanity of the Ring Cycle. There's also a stylistic kinship: Mr. Pynchon's writing is startling, mesmeric, bombastic. He has a hideous genius, yet he's capable of breathtaking tenderness and beauty (see the bucolic idylls of 1997's "Mason & Dixon"). Most of all, just as Wagner smashed the constraints of traditional opera, Mr. Pynchon has transcended what he calls in "Against the Day" (2006) "suburban narratives and diminished payoffs" by creating enormous, rococo alternate realities—by mythmaking. [excerpt]
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com>
>>> Sent: Sep 18, 2013 3:32 PM
>>> To: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>>> Subject: Book Review: 'Bleeding Edge,' by Thomas Pynchon (WSJ)
>>>
>>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323846504579071433982952074.html
>>