New DeLillo

[rich]

there are bits from each of the post Underworld novels that I like alot;
it's just the stories as a whole (not Delillo's strong point to begin with)
arent very interesting. zero K was better than the earlier late novels.
maybe that's why much of Underworld and say Libra are his best
efforts--based on factual events. I yes, I think Pafko at the Wall, the
Sister Edgar scenes, e.g. are the best things he has written, too

DD has said he was working on something related to Trump that took place a
few yrs down the road. I feel bad for any writer coming out with
something new right now. will readers think differently considering the
major upheavals in health, the economy, race relations, etc. these past few
months.

I wonder if filmmaker Adam Curtis fell into that trap: he was supposed to
be working on a sort've What Comes Next 9-part thing after
Hypernormalisation. I wonder since we haven't heard from him whether he's
had to reassess what he already has in the can. You'd think someone would
want to interview him considering the scope and relevance of his work. But,
not a peep

Imagine slaving over a work for some time and feeling ready to get it out
there only to have to re-evaluate since the world has changed so much in
the interim.

That could be the case for anyone, Pynchon included

rich



On Thu, Jun 11, 2020 at 11:12 AM Erik T. Burns <eburns at gmail.com> wrote:

> I think Underworld took it all out of DD, even the "end" of that book is
> more like fragments shored against ruin than anything. The first 3rd,
> though, including the part printed in advance as "Pafko At The Wall", is
> incredible stuff. Like Gravity's Rainbow, it's hard to reclimb Everest.
>
> On Thu, Jun 11, 2020 at 3:40 PM rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> one major difference I see in the later works of both is that Delillo
>> abandoned his signature writing style after Underworld, his voice if you
>> will; I think Pynchon never lost his. For all of Bleeding Edge's faults, to
>> write like that in his 70s is probably the most impressive thing about it.
>>
>> THere's not much to hang onto from The Body Artist on with DD. minimalism
>> i was never a fan of.
>>
>> rich
>>
>> On Wed, Jun 10, 2020 at 6:40 PM Erik T. Burns <eburns at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> https://www.bookforum.com/print/2701/why-don-delillo-deserves-the-nobel-23926
>>>
>>> I agree it's a long shot & that if it were to go to an octogenarian
>>> white male American I rather think our TRP more deserving.
>>>
>>> That said, both TRP & DD have a solid body of remarkable work, plus a
>>> handful of duds [sorry fanbois], but Gravity's Rainbow is just leagues
>>> beyond all the rest of it, V. is a close second, Mason & Dixon seals the
>>> deal.
>>>
>>> DD has Libra and White Noise and Underworld and The Names, all more
>>> "accessible" than TRP, and arguably more "Great American Novelish", not to
>>> mention Americana, End Zone, Running Dog & Ratner's Star.
>>>
>>> They work different seams, in different ways, with little in the way of
>>> cross-pollination.
>>>
>>> Maybe they could split it.
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jun 10, 2020 at 11:32 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Given Dylan’s prize is still warm, there’s little chance of that, I’d
>>>> say.
>>>> It is also the best month for holiday sales of name authors.
>>>>
>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>
>>>> > On Jun 10, 2020, at 5:01 PM, Erik T. Burns <eburns at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> >
>>>> > That's grand. It's also Nobel Prize timing in the publishing world.
>>>> >
>>>> >> On Wed, Jun 10, 2020 at 2:50 PM rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> >>
>>>> >> new novel called The Silence slated for October by Scribner
>>>> >> appears to be novella sized, 128 pgs
>>>> >> no details yet
>>>> >>
>>>> >> rich
>>>> >> --
>>>> >> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>>> >>
>>>> > --
>>>> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>>>
>>>