It's better than I ever could have imagined. Why aren't

meme?

>>9307413
What were your expectations and how have they been surpassed?

Reprint in July, get hype

>>9307427
My expectation was that it would stand up to the best of the postmodern tomes. It has surpassed that by maybe being the best of all of them.

>>9307432
I'll believe it when I see it.

>>9307413
yay more people reading McElroy, anyone wanna talk WnM with me?

>>9307528
Have you read any other McElroy?

>>9307723
Here and there, I've read a little of SB but have been meaning to get back to it. after finishing WnM I was burnt out for a bit

>>9307432
this >>9307511

Source?

>>9307976
Reading women and men before any of his other books that WnM takes ideas from. Damn you guys are dumb.

>>9308037

I did a little research on it before/while I dove in

let me see if I still have saved what I posted in the last McElroy thread:

In reference to the 'hermit inventor': It's a few things, you have a sort of dualism with the hermit inventor and the anzazi weatherman, who's a more mystical figure and immortal, whereas the hermit inventor is reborn every other generation as a nephew. The hting about WnM is that things build out of a sort of mythology complete with reincarnations and avatars, so the Hermit popped up more than a few times (telling the grandma to go west while also telling Jim about the final more sci-fi setup). Try to attach notions of puritan seculaism (if such a concept exists) to the hermit, thinking of him as the creator of newyork as well as an image of our salvation (i mean jesus was an inventor). WnM will try to reconcile seemingly opposing forces a lot: the earth and the sky, faith and reason, men and women.

more on this "reconcilliation" I think there is at least one point where the hermit inventor becomes Jim or the weatherman, this is another thing WnM will do a lot, merging two objects or diverging the histories of one object into two (think the pistol that's been passed around in Jim's family only to show up among some hicks living outside his home). So there will be times where you can assign the role of the inventor to Jim, the guy by the statue of liberty who tells his grandma to go west, or even Jim. (or his brother)

for what it's worth there ARE some resources that I found super useful. If you're at a place that gives JSTOR access there are a couple interviews with McElroy that sort of dig into his process a little more, as well as another essay I really like that explores his (as well as gaddis, pynchon, ect) obsession with "excesss." I'll see if I can attach the links to a reply.
Here's a nice little interview that was done after WnM:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/24514809.pdf

And here's the more critical essay I mentioned:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1207862.pdf

>>9308037
which books would those be

>>9308037
>he treats literature like an RPG

>>9308072
All the ones that come before women and men.

>>9308029
all the info is in this goodreads thread
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1034039-trying-to-find-a-copy?comment=163695028&page=12#comment_163695028
It is being printed by Dzanc, you can preorder it from Barnes & Noble and it will ship July 11th.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/women-and-men-joseph-mcelroy/1002325361?ean=9780979312397

>>9308103
kek