NP - Plist opinion on W Gass

[Heikki Raudaskoski]

You guys have no idea how hard it was for a non-native speaker to read
Omensetter's Luck. Compared to it, GR was almost an easy read. Ended up
loving it almost as much as the best TRP novels (V., TCoL49, GR, MD) or TR
and JR by Gaddis. Yet Omensetter's Luck may be the quintessential Midwest
novel. Wallace wrote a loving pastiche of it, the short story John Billy.

Heikki

On Tue, 21 Oct 2014, Keith Davis wrote:

> OL was a really difficult book at first. The first section is very dense
> and hard to decipher. The second section becomes more of a narrative and
> helps explain the first part. If you can get through the first section, the
> second pays off well.
>
> On Tue, Oct 21, 2014 at 9:30 AM, Antonin Scriabin <kierkegaurdian at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > OL and Barth's Chimera are the books recently that "tricked" me into
> > liking them. I started off not enjoying either, but began to see the
> > emerging structure and was very impressed by the end of each.
> > On Oct 21, 2014 9:23 AM, "Becky Lindroos" <bekker2 at icloud.com> wrote:
> >
> >> I’ve been meaning to get to Omensetter’s Luck for years!  There are soooo
> >> many books out there and only one of me.
> >>
> >> Bekah
> >>
> >> On Oct 21, 2014, at 6:08 AM, Mark Sacha <msacha1121 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> > Gass' style seems to alternate between musical and cringe-inducing. It
> >> can be sort of overly formal - he has a huge penchant for alliteration, for
> >> instance - but at its best, it's very good at fleshing out the so-called
> >> world within the word. Worth reading, I think, but it's hard to take in
> >> bulk - part of the reason why The Tunnel seemed to be such a slog. He's
> >> published more criticism than he has fiction, and for my money he's more
> >> effective in the former.
> >> >
> >> > Haven't read Omensetter's Luck, though... will get around to it someday.
> >> >
> >> > On Tue, Oct 21, 2014 at 8:41 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >> > I feel the same way about OMENSETTER's LUCK....The early book of short
> >> stories is a bit " easier" to sorta get but I can't remember them at all; I
> >> remember feeling so " in" when I got his special printing of WILLIE
> >> MASTER's LONESOME WIFE thru Tri-Quarterly  Mag back in the day. ( didn't
> >> know what to make of it when young ). I thought his FICTION AND THE FIGURES
> >> OF LIFE taught me good stuff, and I'm sure it did but, later, it seemed
> >> too.....removed from the life in fiction......but I've never
> >> revisited.....Love the idea of BLUE but never got to....and was too lazily
> >> undisciplined to keep reading THE TUNNEL as I was not re some other
> >> writers.......( but undisciplined is the more, so to speak)
> >> >
> >> > I have heard he is a rewarding teacher, influencing many writers. one,
> >> Garth Hallberg, has a big book coming [CITY ON FIRE] that is in the
> >> GASS--PYNCHON tradition, ( so I've heard) so to almost meaninglessly say,
> >> >
> >> > Sent from my iPad
> >> >
> >> > On Oct 21, 2014, at 6:55 AM, Antonin Scriabin <kierkegaurdian at gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> I consider myself a fan of Gass, but I have only read Omensetter's
> >> Luck. It was one if the hardest, densest short novels I've come across. I
> >> also enjoyed him on Bookworm with Michael Silverblatt. So I like him, but
> >> don't have as much experience with his writing as I do Gaddis' and TP's.
> >> >>
> >> >> On Oct 21, 2014 4:06 AM, "matthew cissell" <mccissell at gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >> >> Howdy listers,
> >> >>
> >> >>    It's clear that we have some William Gaddis fans on the list, but
> >> how do folks feel about William Gass? I don't seem to recall having seen
> >> his name mentioned here (of course I don't read every mail either).
> >> Anybody? Two cents of feedback?
> >> >>
> >> >> Have a happy Tuesday cuz the Happy Mondays are gone.
> >> >>
> >> >> ciao
> >> >> Otis
> >> >
> >>
> >> -
> >> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
> >>
> >
>
>
> --
> www.innergroovemusic.com
>
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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l