That Locke Review of GR

[Mark Kohut]

This is a very nice personal memory from David Cowart about discovering and
reading Pynchon, in which he too remembers Poirer's review in *The Saturday
Review. *
It might have been the first review published, dunno,  since Locke's review
was in March and pub date of GR was in February. Editors tried to have most
major books reviewed
on or shortly after pub date; Pub week (or the Sunday before) by the NYTBR.

Poirer was already teaching *Lot 49* at Rutgers.

https://books.google.com/books?id=77eNSYr2gsQC&pg=PR4&dq=cowart+on+pynchon&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj9zqKF76jTAhWI2SYKHaiUAFgQ6AEIIzAA#v=onepage&q=cowart%20on%20pynchon&f=false

On Sat, Apr 15, 2017 at 12:20 PM, Douglas Holm <dkholm at mac.com> wrote:

> I think Richard Porior (SP?) 's review in Saturday Review was also a big
> help.  That's where I first heard of the novel.  Still have the review in a
> file folder somewhere.
>
> > On Apr 15, 2017, at 3:26 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > 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
> > -
> > Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>
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