I recently read J R and then The Recognitions and loved both of them. I definitely recommend Recognitions before J R because the latter seems to be a direct response to the infamously poor reception of the first. They are challenging, but absolutely worth it. He writes some of the most compelling characters I've ever read and tackle themes surrounding the value of art in a fast-moving world that seems to place so little value on it. They feel just as relevant today as when they were released, and the plot of the Recognitions is shockingly prescient into the response the book itself received (with some meta references to the book towards the end). "And it is still spoken of, when it is noted, with high regard, though seldom played." With all of that said, though, I don't draw much comparison between Gaddis and Pynchon. DeLillo, however, is a huge fan of Gaddis, and I think it shows in his works.

I'm recalling this half remembered but someone compared Gaddis' JR as the radio novel in the way that Pynchon novels have tv influence.

shara

6 months ago

Tangent - do we have any strong contenders for an internet novel along those lines?

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macaron

6 months ago

Thats a tough question, because I think the internet as a whole is way more of a tough thing to pin down compared to radio and television, content-wise. I’m tempted to say books like The Sluts by Dennis Cooper or B.R. Yeager’s Amygdalatropalis but they feel a bit too limited in scope, they’re books about and playing with forms of a specific kind of internet but not something broadly so. I haven’t read Bleeding Edge by Pynchon but from what ive heard its more about 9/11 than the internet.

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I’ve read The Recognitions and JR and they’re both fucking amazing. I don’t think they’re very Pynchonesque though. I think they just get lumped together because they both require a certain degree of concentration to get the most out of them.

I love The Recognitions! Go for it!

Let's overextend an analogy. Pynchon is like a mushroom trip in the woods with your college friends, it's strange and funny and groovy and plays with your perceptions of reality, and then you land thinking about what a good time you had. Gaddis is like going into the DMT world with a Von Trier movie playing in the background. Strange messages and alien transmissions come at you in the form of extended discussions of Medieval theology and the Northern Renaissance and page after page of maddening unattributed dialogue. You SHOULD read it. Will you like it? Fuck if I know.