That Locke Review of GR

[Mark Kohut]

Besides Pynchon's steadily growing " underground" (cultish) reputation at the time, this review
Probably did most to make Gravity's Rainbow the literal NYT bestseller it became, I dare to guess-remember and connect.

Factually, I think he may have been wrong about the sales of THE CRYING OF LOT 49, Which I once learned were outstanding and steady and building in paperback. ( didn't happen in hardcover). But even if I remember truly, I don't know the timeline with surety and those outstandingly noticeable sales might not have been that until after GR was published. Many readers tried discovering TRP first with that book, no surprise. 

You want another intellectual treat? Look up Locke's NYT review of TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY. In which Pynchon is name-checked. 

Sent from my iPad

> On Apr 15, 2017, at 5:50 AM, John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> What a magnificent review. Especially given it was written
> pre-internet, and that the critic displays a deep familiarity with
> Pynchon's previous work. Things to disagree with, but a long way from
> today's hot take published ten minutes before the book is released.
> 
>> On Fri, Apr 14, 2017 at 11:18 PM, ish mailian <ishmailian at gmail.com> wrote:
>> http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/05/18/reviews/pynchon-rainbow.html
>> -
>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l