why doesn't anyone ever mention how funny this book is?

>>8526764
"That it was difficult...that it was among the first books of black humor and so forth, but, of course, we all came out of Mark Twain’s vest pocket. No one has ever beaten “The Mysterious Stranger.” But that whole world of the amount of information, what they called erudition, frightened off many people. Very very few reviewers said it is often very funny. It was a sometimes heavy-handed satire but I wanted it to be a large comic novel in the great tradition."

Most of the book isn't difficult. The last 200 pages or so are.

>>8526772
He also talks, in another interview I can't recall right now, about how he's baffled by all of the "serious novelists" who purposefully make their 1k-page tomes as dry and glum as possible, how he intentionally wrote in a lot of jabs, jokes, puns and pranks into his books not just to keep the carnivalesque atmosphere but to keep himself entertained as well (in one of his mid-70's letters, he says he's glad he's almost done editing JR because then he'll never have to read it again).

>>8526795
Who said this, Gaddis or Franzen?

>>8526795
gaddis was a fag

>>8526945
Gaddis

What's your favorite joke? I'm trying to get away with calling as many people as I can latent heterosexuals.

>>8526973
in the last chapter where the critic says he only needs the book jacket to review a book

/lit/ in a nutshell

>>8526764
>is Jonathan Franzen just retarded?
Yes. This cannot be stressed enough. Even DFW knew he was a pseud but was "friends" with him to feel better about his own inadequacies.

>>8526764
I'm reading The Recognitions in a spanish translation and in english. Is taking me a while but it's worthy. Far enough enjoying it and getting to know more english words :-))

I'm planning to read after this, another Gaddis work but not sure which

>>8527417
>spanish translation

Really? How's it?

>>8526973
I'm doing a creative arts degree (which is a pretty funny joke in its own right), and the number of times I've just slipped in that something seems "really quite chavenet" to thoughtful nods and "oh yes"s is, frankly, extraordinary.

>>8526764

This has to be the worst prose I've ever encountered in a novel. I couldn't stomach more than a few pages.

>>8527420
I find the spanish translation really great. Doesn't miss too much, it's still a book to ''pay attention'' because if you lose it, you can't not get too much in my experience. First I was reading it in english and wasn't difficult but I had to stop because while looking to the dictionary and reading, didn't match too well. So now, I'm reading it in spanish and after I finished a chapter I read it in english so I can grasp it better. That's why it's taking me a while but it's ok, I guess...

>>8527458
hello plebo