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Mathews et al
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From: Jesse Huisken <jesse_huisken@sympatico.ca>
There's a great literary tradition of authors hating things that come
close to, but don't quite enjoy the same aims as their own work. I'd say
that Mathews happily runs the risk of sublime nonsense, where Nabokov
preferred a less manic construction. In Mathews the puzzles all fall
apart and flaunt there absurdity, so we're pretty far from VN's 'web of
sense'. Roussel is really the model for "The Conversions", and Mathews
has claimed familiarity but not kinship with VN.
-- Jesse
On Tuesday, February 4, 2003, at 11:36 PM, Galya Diment wrote:
> From: Mark Bennett <mab@straussandasher.com>
>
> I have read, and enjoyed, "The Conversions." I particularly enjoyed
> Grent
> Wayl's exploding coffin, which rained rose petals upon the mourners
> attending his funeral. I've also read "Cigarettes," but didn't enjoy
> it as
> much. I recall reading somewhere ("Selected Letters"?) that VN read,
> and
> loathed, "The Conversions." So it goes . . .
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> From: MalignD@aol.com
>
> Reading Kundera is like being stuck in a locked room with a bore.
>
> ________________________________________________________
> From: Jesse Huisken <jesse_huisken@sympatico.ca>
>
> I think that William Gaddis's The Recognitions would be of interest to
> anyone who has enjoyed Ulysses and Pynchon's larger books. He's more
> consistent in tone than Pynchon, and his two big novels are more reined
> in
> and coherent as fictional worlds, but he's equally devastating in his
> pessimism and his flights of imagination are some of the most brilliant
> in
> fiction ever. I'd also highly recommend the fiction of Harry Mathews,
> who's
> still kicking out brilliant books every now and then. Mathews will
> appeal
> very much to anyone who has enjoyed Nabokov and the works of Raymond
> Roussel. He's prose style and self conscious use of fantasy, puzzles and
> parody are remarkable, and his style will seem very familiar to readers
> of
> later Nobokov (LATH, Transparent Things, ADA). His first three novels
> The
> Sinking of the Odradek Stadium, Tlooth, The Conversions are my
> favorites,
> but Cigarettes is the most masterly as a work of fiction (as opposed to
> literary experimentation). I'd like to know if anyone else has read
> Harry
> Mathews on this site. I would be surprised if no one has.
>
> -- Jesse
>
There's a great literary tradition of authors hating things that come
close to, but don't quite enjoy the same aims as their own work. I'd say
that Mathews happily runs the risk of sublime nonsense, where Nabokov
preferred a less manic construction. In Mathews the puzzles all fall
apart and flaunt there absurdity, so we're pretty far from VN's 'web of
sense'. Roussel is really the model for "The Conversions", and Mathews
has claimed familiarity but not kinship with VN.
-- Jesse
On Tuesday, February 4, 2003, at 11:36 PM, Galya Diment wrote:
> From: Mark Bennett <mab@straussandasher.com>
>
> I have read, and enjoyed, "The Conversions." I particularly enjoyed
> Grent
> Wayl's exploding coffin, which rained rose petals upon the mourners
> attending his funeral. I've also read "Cigarettes," but didn't enjoy
> it as
> much. I recall reading somewhere ("Selected Letters"?) that VN read,
> and
> loathed, "The Conversions." So it goes . . .
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> From: MalignD@aol.com
>
> Reading Kundera is like being stuck in a locked room with a bore.
>
> ________________________________________________________
> From: Jesse Huisken <jesse_huisken@sympatico.ca>
>
> I think that William Gaddis's The Recognitions would be of interest to
> anyone who has enjoyed Ulysses and Pynchon's larger books. He's more
> consistent in tone than Pynchon, and his two big novels are more reined
> in
> and coherent as fictional worlds, but he's equally devastating in his
> pessimism and his flights of imagination are some of the most brilliant
> in
> fiction ever. I'd also highly recommend the fiction of Harry Mathews,
> who's
> still kicking out brilliant books every now and then. Mathews will
> appeal
> very much to anyone who has enjoyed Nabokov and the works of Raymond
> Roussel. He's prose style and self conscious use of fantasy, puzzles and
> parody are remarkable, and his style will seem very familiar to readers
> of
> later Nobokov (LATH, Transparent Things, ADA). His first three novels
> The
> Sinking of the Odradek Stadium, Tlooth, The Conversions are my
> favorites,
> but Cigarettes is the most masterly as a work of fiction (as opposed to
> literary experimentation). I'd like to know if anyone else has read
> Harry
> Mathews on this site. I would be surprised if no one has.
>
> -- Jesse
>