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he was demonstrating that he is the best american author of all time, or at least of the 20th century

>>9522425
He really is. One of them at least. Melville, gaddis, Pynchon, Gass? Mcelroy?

>>9522431
Faulkner.

>>9522438
Oh yeah forgot corncobber

>>9522431
I'd still throw pynchon in that mix and take out maybe gass; the dude's criticism is a little more fun and enjoyable at times (but in the heart of the heart of the country and omensetter's has some of the best lines of prose I've ever seen)

I've been thinking about reading this book for awhile. Should I read the Recogntions first or just dive right into J R?

>>9524218
you can do either

>>9524218
It doesn't matter. I think people in general will enjoy J R more than the recognitions.

>>9524218
It depends on what kind of book you want to read. The Recognitions was his most ambitious project in a lot of ways and feels more "grand" in scale than his later books. J R touches on a lot of the same ideas but is written in an entirely different style and scales things back a great deal. It could be said that Gaddis' books grew increasingly more claustrophobic as his career progressed, eventually leading to Agape Agape where it's just one guy rambling at you for roughly 100 pages in a Bernhard-esque fashion.

>>9525561
You're right JR is more scaled down than The Recognitions (not as many different locales and range of time and sceneries and minor characters described) but that's underrating how ambitious and roomy JR still is; just because The Recognitions has a fantastically huge range, JR can still have a big range despite not matching up to it.

But true, after that, you could say his novels increasingly decrease the range of characters and setting.

IS IT JUNIOR OR J.R. HOW DO YOU SAY IT????????

>>9525614
J space R
HOLY YOU'RE DUMB

>>9525614
J a novel R

The only famous dead American authors in the non-Anglo world:

>Poe
>Hemingway
>Steinbeck
>Faulkner
>Melville
>Whitman
>Twain (kinda)
>Fitzgerald

And I think that's it. John Kennedy Toole still lacks official recognition, Nabokov doesn't count as American, no one reads Emerson anymore, and Gaddis hasn't been properly memed here in Yurop.

>>9525661
Ah, and there's Bukowski of course, but he belongs in the Philip K. Dick bucket.

>>9525661
Wow Europe sucks ass.

You need

Mcelroy
Barth
Coover
Federman
Gass
Stein
Young
Orlovitz
Hawkes

What are some other grand amerifats lads?

>>9525695
barthelme

>>9525702

I will never get the appeal of Barthelme. His stories are empty.

>>9525716
if you dont like his sense of humor, yeah, there's not a lot of appeal. very dry

>>9525716
Did you read the dead Father. Shit was funny.

>>9525614
Funnily enough, someone actually asked Gaddis this in an interview because it was a common question of readers on reading the book, which gave nothing to support either pronunciation.

>>9525732
yes, i know, what was his answe

>>9525743
He said it was pronounced Hurr because it was a soft, Spanish "j"

>>9525749
kek

>>9525695
>literally who: the post

>>9525614
>>9525732
i knew a dumb as fuck kid named "J R" because on his birth certificate his dumb as fuck dad wrote "J R" as a first name instead of "Junior" like he meant.

this is pretty much the only time my anecdote is relevant

File: IMG_7516.jpg (304KB, 1533x1600px) Image search: [Google]

304KB, 1533x1600px

>>9525661
No TS Eliot? No Ezra Pound? Sad!

>>9525990
kys

>>9525695
if i want to start on mcelroy, where should i begin - actually, where to begin with all of those besides barth and gass

>>9522431
Mcelroy.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

>>9525695
>Orlovitz
this guy's books are impossible to find, no wonder no one knows him

>>9526115
Anywhere you want. Just not womem and m men

>>9526155
Abebooks senpai

>>9526178
not paying 30+ for a book desu

>>9525695
which stein? which young?

>>9526214
Gertrude and Marguerite

>>9526227
women?

>>9526230
Suck a dick you retarded faggot

>>9526247
cuck

>>9526082
They're known as serious writers, but they're almost not read at all.

>>9525695
>a bunch of nonentities

stop browsing /lit/