And then he said Thomas Pynchon was the greatest writer ever lived

WTF???

he was probably being hyperbolic you know, he's just enthusiastic... why you gotta skewer those who still know how to love?

people say things, have opinions, try not to be such a blowhard

do americans actually believe this

i'd never even heard of him prior to Veeky Forums

that's because you didn't read prior to Veeky Forums

Unfortunately they fucking love that based manlet

not everyone is american user
i've only once seen a pynchon book irl

He's really popular outside of Veeky Forums. Notice how he has a large section of a shelf to himself at most book stores. My mom's read him, my soccer mom friend's read him, I read him before going on Veeky Forums. He's won big awards, he's been a consistent bestseller. The fact that you hadn't heard of him prior to coming to Veeky Forums says more about you than it does about his popularity.

...

Top kek.

>He's really popular outside of Veeky Forums.

Utter bullshit.

how popular are delillo and dfw in america comparatively?

they're also pretty much unheard of in my country

They made a film of Inherent Vice, and he was on an episode of the Simpsons.

Literal retards that don't know what they're talking about.

Amazing I'm on Veeky Forums tbqhwyf.

He's barely popular outside of /lit. Most english majors have no idea who he is. I only know a few adults who have even read him.

this ffs

i mean, sure, the average dumbass on the street might not know who herman melville is
but among anyone who reads pynchon is a pretty big name

I feel like I meet more DFW nonfiction fans who say they want to read IJ rather than people who have read his fiction. Some ppl claim they love his short fiction or Broom of the System, but they strike as more pseud rather than mostly shallow nonfiction readers.

Also, the Segel movie and the commencement speech resonate with litbros.

DFW is known among general 'hip indie kids' who make it their business to know about such things, I go to one of the top schools and hang out among such crowds, and generally everyone has heard of him

DeLillo is still pretty unknown, most people who I mention White Noise to have no idea what it is

I'm really surprised by this. Everybody interested in literature that I know has heard of him and many have at least read TCoL49. Maybe I just live in a freakish area, I don't know (and yes, I'm in the US, but the active readers I know who aren't from the US have still heard of him.) However, it's impossible to deny that he's at least very well known in the US, seeing as he always has many copies of his more famous works at popular chain bookstores, he won the National Book Award, and he has had a popular film adaptation made of one of his novels. He's also read in some college courses at major universities, although that isn't a great indicator.

DFW is way more popular. Everybody's heard of IJ as a big scary thingy so they'll namedrop it all the time although most haven't read it.

Sorry, when I replied I thought you were asking how popular DFW was compared to DeLillo. DFW is probably about even with Pinecone, although he has a slight edge among normal readers.

What country are you in, if you don't mind?

kind of change of topic, but I've been curious as to how many people read Paul Auster also

mentally, I've grouped him in with the other postmodernists like DeLillo, but I've barely met anyone who has read him, which is strange because his work is way more accessible

Not many people have read him. There's normally a copy of the New York Trilogy at a major store but I've never heard anybody talk about him. He's probably less popular than DeLillo by a fair margin; most of the readers I know have at least heard of White Noise and/or Underworld.

thanks
new zealand
also how popular is jonathan franzen?

Franzen is fairly well known, but not extremely popular. I see his stuff at thrift and used book stores often - it's pretty common book club material, probably because of the Oprah label. Although he's pretty widely read by the masses, I'd say he's a good bit less known than Pinecone and DFW, and he definitely doesn't generate much discussion; nobody seems to care much about him one way or the other.

I remember years ago reading about how he had a major rivalry with DFW, and through the combination of IJ and his suicide, DFW has come out victorious.

Also, I feel like Franzen as a person attracts more attention then his actual books.

I've read numerous articles and interviews on him, but I've yet to try his fiction. Not in a huge rush, though Purity sounds like funky popcorn.

I'm kinda grateful that he helped Nell Zink get her work out there though, because I really liked both of her novels.

I've heard that hipsters/white men/noir aficionados swear by the New York Trilogy, and I've heard that it's actually quite good.

Was supposed to read City of Glass for a class, but I dropped it before it started. One day...

I met Franzen and had to awkwardly admit I hadn't read anything of his. I was kind of surprised when I realized it to. He just feels like someone everyone has read already.

Really??

>prior to
Kill yourself.

This. So much this.

I sincerely think Pynchon is one of the best prose writers I've ever read.