Thomas Pynchon has a whopper coming down the pipes, weighing in at a scant 1,120 pages. The best part is his description of the book that showed up on amazon:
“Spanning the period between the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 and the years just after World War I, this novel moves from the labor troubles in Colorado to turn-of-the-century New York, to London and Gottingen, Venice and Vienna, the Balkans, Central Asia, Siberia at the time of the mysterious Tunguska Event, Mexico during the Revolution, postwar Paris, silent-era Hollywood, and one or two places not strictly speaking on the map at all. With a worldwide disaster looming just a few years ahead, it is a time of unrestrained corporate greed, false religiosity, moronic fecklessness, and evil intent in high places. No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred.”
The above was found at time magazine, on a little article on the difficulty of promoting an author who doesn’t talk to the press. On a slightly unrelated note, I have a first edition of his Mason Dixon on my shelf, right next to David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest. Both have yet to be cracked. My brother, on the other hand, finished both War and Peace and Moby Dick this summer. Guess who’s in grad school studying literature? (Wrong, me.)
November 14, 2006 at 3:36 pm
I have a copy of Mason Dixon as well that has been cracked but quickly shut. It seems rather daunting – kind of Ulysess-esque. All I see from Mr. Pynchon is that he seems to have a penchant for large unwieldy novels. I would be interested to hear from anybody that had actually read his work.
November 14, 2006 at 3:53 pm
I just read the Time article. Very interesting. One thing that comes to mind is that idea that “bad press is good press”. By being a so-called “recluse”, Pynchon is able to effectively market his books – whether intended or not. Also, for some reason, his quirky behaviour makes me want to read his books more.