/Gaddis/ thread

>>9093286

OP here:

>Agapē Agape, A Frolic of His Own, Carpenter's Gothic, starting on JR over the Summer.

>Favorite so far was probably Agapē Agape. A really tight work for something as loose and stumbling as a deathbed monologue, and I just felt totally absorbed in his lesson of the death of art by replication, his insistence on something fundamental beyond the real both in its application to art and beyond that. I think it has such an effect on me precisely because it can be read in one sitting, and I can let Gaddis' prose wash over without having to take a break. All three have been great though, though I might rank A Frolic of His Own over Carpenter's Gothic.

>I almost feel compelled to rank him over Pynchon in terms of 20th century American writers, but I have yet to read Mason & Dixon, V., and his most recent novels, so I withhold that. At the very least on-par though, and those two seem to sit at the top for me. I'm hoping that the Gass-posters prove right and I enjoy him as much as I enjoy those two.

I'm 46% through The Recognitions. He's probably the smartest author that I've read. Him, Pynchon, Barth and Nabokov are top tier POMO as opposed to DeLillo, Ellis, Vonnegut.

>>9093393
Barth is great as well. Nabokov is a little harder to judge for me as the only work I've tried with him was Ada, but I found it a little too stuffy and sort of self-presenting for my tastes, at least on a first read. Definitely will circle back to him though, as he's obviously brilliant and worth reading.

Nigga, The Recognitions is one of the greatest American novels ever written.

>>9093286
I've only read the recognitions and carpenters gothic. I've decided I don't like the Pomo maximalist crew after reading The Recognitions and V last year. I'd much rather read Tolstoy, Turgenev or Dostoevsky than these Wikipedia article books full of historical minutiae and farcical characters with names like Benny Profane and Recktall Brown.

Pomo was a mistake.

>>9093432

One can enjoy both 19th century Russian Realism and also enjoy Pomo. They're not mutually exclusive.

>>9093286
JR and Carpenter's Gothic. Currently reading The Recognitions
JR. Truly one of the best things I've ever read. It's not only a great display of technique, but he manages to use that technique to say something. That he's able to develop and display so many character just by dialogue and to make you know them and suffer with them as the world eat their will is a proof of his insurmontable genius.
Quite possibly one of the greatest of all time. I love Pynchon and DeLillo, but he's a whole different level. He conveys meaning and honest, raw humanity like few can.

>>9093577
um, no.

>>9093619

I'm sorry you feel that way, anon. I hope you find some Pomo you enjoy in the future. Meanwhile I'm happy to read Gaddis and Tolstoy on alternating days (my two /lit/ classes this semester are 20th century American Lit. and Tolstoy, sans War and Peace).