PTA's Inherent Vice script should have won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. It took me reading the novel, then watching the film multiple times, then listening to the audiobook to understand Pynchon's work.
Completely agree. I was also surprised PTA hasn't won a Best Director for anything he's done - not even There Will Be Blood. Yes, it requires stamina to get Pynchon - which is what makes it fun, in the end!
Reading Pynchon (and Infinite Jest) reminds me that I'm such a normie when it comes to literature. Edgy as I occasionally think I am, I nevertheless crave a traditional plot structure — or at least something with payoffs. Cormac McCarthy, Ian McEwan, Jhumpa Lahiri, Michael Chabon, Jonathan Franzen, and other novelists provide that fulfillment while still crafting ambitious narratives that elicit deep emotional reactions.
I'm similar with film. "Slow cinema" and most avant-garde work just doesn't do it for me... (For example, I loathed the new "horror" film, Skinamarink.) But I would like to develop a better appreciation for artists that say "No, it doesn't have to be THAT way."
I wouldn't worry about not liking Pynchon, Wallace, etc - I can't really get into Gaddis and, according to my other tastes, I should really like him. But I find him utterly impenetrable (just pick up J. R. - life's too short). All the authors you mention are great - I particularly like McEwan, Chabon and Franzen. I'm not sure what it is about Pynchon and Wallace, though - I think for me it's that reading them is like working through a really complicated textbook that happens to be fiction. So many layers, so many convolutions - I read them with a pen in my hand. Maybe it takes me back to my university days?!
And as for avant-garde film ... I don't mind it as long as it's not being used as a by-word for 'too lazy to tell a story' - though I have to admit, I've really got to be in the right mindset for it and that hasn't happened for a long time ...
Broom is great - and Wallace’s essays are second to none. My favourite (still) is ‘Big Red Son’ about his trip to the ‘porn Oscars’ in Vegas. Makes me laugh out loud every time! Genius.
Love Gravity’s Rainbow! I took its whole approach to the world as a dare to write something highly unconventional in grad school, and when the prof handed us back our papers he asked me to stay after class. “Tom,” he said, “what the hell is this?” “I thought Pynchon’s book basically required that I escape the bounds of the conventional academic paper, so I took a shot at doing something different,” I replied. “Well, I can’t accept it,” he replied, “I need you to produce a ‘coin of the realm.’” I won’t belabor the point; I wrote a conventional paper. But man, what a novel!
It's not hyperbole to say Pynchon changed my life - I've never seen anything the same since diving down his rabbit holes. I tend to pull out Pynchon on an informal rota - Vineland is a great beach read, I've found. Though I spent the entirety of a holiday to Provence (at least, every moment I could get away from the family) with Gravity's Rainbow a few years back - and that proved to be one of my favourite reads of the novel. Have you picked up Weisenburger, A 'Gravity's Rainbow' Companion? It's an interesting take on Pynchon's references and sources ... despite an error or two.
Never heard of Weisenburger! I wonder if I’ve got a third turn through that novel in me? Is it better to have fond memories or to try again and see where that book fits in my life now? I remember reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance several times in my “youth,” but when I picked it up as a fully sorted middle-aged man, it just kind of fell flat for me.
PTA's Inherent Vice script should have won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. It took me reading the novel, then watching the film multiple times, then listening to the audiobook to understand Pynchon's work.
Completely agree. I was also surprised PTA hasn't won a Best Director for anything he's done - not even There Will Be Blood. Yes, it requires stamina to get Pynchon - which is what makes it fun, in the end!
Reading Pynchon (and Infinite Jest) reminds me that I'm such a normie when it comes to literature. Edgy as I occasionally think I am, I nevertheless crave a traditional plot structure — or at least something with payoffs. Cormac McCarthy, Ian McEwan, Jhumpa Lahiri, Michael Chabon, Jonathan Franzen, and other novelists provide that fulfillment while still crafting ambitious narratives that elicit deep emotional reactions.
I'm similar with film. "Slow cinema" and most avant-garde work just doesn't do it for me... (For example, I loathed the new "horror" film, Skinamarink.) But I would like to develop a better appreciation for artists that say "No, it doesn't have to be THAT way."
I wouldn't worry about not liking Pynchon, Wallace, etc - I can't really get into Gaddis and, according to my other tastes, I should really like him. But I find him utterly impenetrable (just pick up J. R. - life's too short). All the authors you mention are great - I particularly like McEwan, Chabon and Franzen. I'm not sure what it is about Pynchon and Wallace, though - I think for me it's that reading them is like working through a really complicated textbook that happens to be fiction. So many layers, so many convolutions - I read them with a pen in my hand. Maybe it takes me back to my university days?!
And as for avant-garde film ... I don't mind it as long as it's not being used as a by-word for 'too lazy to tell a story' - though I have to admit, I've really got to be in the right mindset for it and that hasn't happened for a long time ...
I love Broom of the System and Wallace's essays. Haven't tried his other fiction.
Broom is great - and Wallace’s essays are second to none. My favourite (still) is ‘Big Red Son’ about his trip to the ‘porn Oscars’ in Vegas. Makes me laugh out loud every time! Genius.
Love Gravity’s Rainbow! I took its whole approach to the world as a dare to write something highly unconventional in grad school, and when the prof handed us back our papers he asked me to stay after class. “Tom,” he said, “what the hell is this?” “I thought Pynchon’s book basically required that I escape the bounds of the conventional academic paper, so I took a shot at doing something different,” I replied. “Well, I can’t accept it,” he replied, “I need you to produce a ‘coin of the realm.’” I won’t belabor the point; I wrote a conventional paper. But man, what a novel!
It's not hyperbole to say Pynchon changed my life - I've never seen anything the same since diving down his rabbit holes. I tend to pull out Pynchon on an informal rota - Vineland is a great beach read, I've found. Though I spent the entirety of a holiday to Provence (at least, every moment I could get away from the family) with Gravity's Rainbow a few years back - and that proved to be one of my favourite reads of the novel. Have you picked up Weisenburger, A 'Gravity's Rainbow' Companion? It's an interesting take on Pynchon's references and sources ... despite an error or two.
Never heard of Weisenburger! I wonder if I’ve got a third turn through that novel in me? Is it better to have fond memories or to try again and see where that book fits in my life now? I remember reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance several times in my “youth,” but when I picked it up as a fully sorted middle-aged man, it just kind of fell flat for me.