Thomas Pynchon

[Peder]

I've never had anyone send me a PM complaining (or applauding) about a review I wrote. Maybe it's because I have never reviewed any of the sacred cows (I did not like Madam Bovary and The Great Gatsby though).

Yes, the receipt of a PM was remarkable in itself, since most of my blog posts produce resounding echoes of silence by way of response. No complaint, though. It's calming and peaceful in that world.

 

[saliotthomas]

Well thanks Peder,i certainly would be:flowers:

I read cry of lot 49 few weeks ago and was abit overcome by the Pynchon style.It reminded me a bit of the Trial of Kafka we read for the BOTOM.Not in detail but in the structure of the novel(though their is those secret society in both) the fiction inside the fiction(if that mean anything).
I like very much the short stories in the bigger frame.The fact that he take the time to elaborate in side lines( tv,theatre,..)
But i must admit that i find this type of writing more demanding than classic construtions.
Sort of tongue-out reading.

 

[Peder]

Well thanks Peder,i certainly would be:flowers:

Thanks. I'll try to get it to you before tomorrow. Right now I am heading out for the day.

 

[beer good]

Another enthusiastic review:

'Inherent Vice' by Thomas Pynchon - Los Angeles Times

It's easy to forget, among all his games and puzzles, that Pynchon can write razor-sharp beauty with the best of them. A page-long description of the Santa Anas demands a place next to classic passages by Chandler and Joan Didion.

In Pynchon's big books, these devastating descriptions, particularly of place, are often swept away in the tide of prose and characters. Here, in a novel that focuses on Los Angeles so sharply that Tommy's is pinpointed by its cross streets, they shine.
(...)
And yet, if "Inherent Vice" exhibits nostalgia, it is not for the Los Angeles of yesteryear but for the days when genuine mystery was possible, when Doc's acid trip could be as relevant as Det. Bjornsen's world, when complex layers could both contradict and coexist. It's a love letter to a time when obsessives couldn't get all the answers from computers, when we might embrace the unknowable.

Here's hoping my local dealer gets it today.

 

[Stewart]

It's the first Pynchon, after abandoning three previous titles, I've been able to follow. It's extremely coherent, A -> B -> C, and the only thing jarring me from fully enjoying it is that the characters, as is standard Pynchon, are stupidly named, yet I can never remember who is who. All part of that stoner fug, I suppose.

 

[sparkchaser]

Wired has a neat little article called The Unofficial Thomas Pynchon Guide to Los Angeles*.

 

[beer good]

Pynchon makes rare public appearance.

Well, sort of.

Well, almost.

Well, he sent a fax.

In connection with this. Check it out: Pynchon draws a cute little pig when he signs a book. Also, there's a rare photo of him. Allegedly.

"In today's world" she said, "the privacy he gets is that people seldom read."

 

[sparkchaser]

What a strange man.

I can't remember: who here at BAR is the Pynchon fanboy?

 

[beer good]

I can't remember: who here at BAR is the Pynchon fanboy?

I think I'm the only one left now. :sad:

 

[beer good]

Pynchon caves, lets himself be published in e-book form.

Quoth his editor:

Every writer wants to have as many readers as they can possibly get. But I don’t think this will change his public profile, in terms of him being out there in public. In fact, I know it won’t.

 

[sparkchaser]

Poor guy. Must have been a horrible internal struggle to say yes to more money.

 

[beer good]

Considering that his last few books have basically been luddite manifestoes, I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

 

[beer good]

There's a pretty cool (if not entirely correct) book trailer for Pynchon's collected works here:

After Long Resistance, Pynchon Allows Novels to Be Sold as E-Books - NYTimes.com

 

[beer good]

Literati Holdouts Yield to E-Book Allure: Why? | Publishing In the 21st Century

A personal anecdote may shed light on why they did it. Over a decade ago the e-book company I founded, E-Reads, generated its very first royalty statements, and sales were modest indeed. I happened to be having lunch with one of the authors who had put her book into our program, and when she asked how her novel was selling, I embarrassedly produced her statement. “We sold one copy.”

She gazed at the statement, with its meager single-digit performance, for a long time. Then she looked up wistfully at me. “I wonder who that person is.”

 

[beer good]

If anyone's interested, there's a group read of Gravity's Rainbow going on here:

gravity's rainbow read along

Should be fun.

 

[beer good]

New Pynchon novel this autumn

Oh yes. Oh yes.

 

[eclair]

woohoo!

 

[Peder]

Well, it is now here - Bleeding Edge, that is. Perhaps this bump up might attract some discussion?

 

[eclair]

^ Are you reading it, Peder?

 

[Peder]

^ Are you reading it, Peder?

Yes, Éclair, and no. The first three chapters did not thrill me -- quite the opposite -- so for the moment I have put it aside. On the other hand, Jonathan Lethem gave it an appreciative review in the NYT, so I am thinking of having another go at Bleeding Edge, using Lethem's review as something of a guide to its merits. And, just perhaps, to be able to make up my own mind about it. It certainly excites fierce differences of opinion (just see above) and I would at least like to be able to understand some of the ferocity. Also, Pynchon seems to be too influential an author to just cast aside, even if my current reaction is quite a bit like Michiko Kakutani's, also presented in the NYT.
I can certainly think of many more appealing books and authors to read, so in answer to your question: we shall see where it goes from here.