Should I read Against The Day or The Recognitions as my next book? I want to read a meme novel as my next book. I've read a lot of Pynchon in the past and have liked it, but I've never Gaddis. Which one is the funnier book out of the two?
Pic unrelated
anyone who eats food like that should be euthanized
The Recognitions is hilarious but in a way where you kind of want to kill yourself
you should be euthanized
Against the Day is Pynchon's highest achievement. But you shouldn't read it for laughs, there are few.
recognitions is more important. both are good. recognitions is better.
Why would you say recognitions is more important? What does it do?
Recognitions is everything that DFw/Pynchon tried to do, but without needing to rely on gimmick. It's a masterpiece of dialogue and humor, and it came before Pale Fire even. It's amazingly prescient.
The Recognitions
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll scratch you head and mumble hunh? You'll be bombarded with words you don't know. You'll learn something you didn't know about the human heart.
yeah his views of that society are hilarious. exposes loads of different people for being shits. totally destroys hipsters and art fags that do shit for the scene. you will learn about art and religion along the way. you will probably see yourself in one of the many characters. it's hilarious. it's also shocking and extremely heartfelt with some genuine as fuck characters. Stanley being one of the most genuine I've ever seen. his ending is also perfect. I'm way too high to tell you why you should read it.
That scene where Otto briefly runs into Wyatt before he takes off to Central America is gut-wrenching. Yeah that ending was pretty amazing. While the result was a lost in translation tower of Babel thing, I can't help thinking that the book lampoons shammery without fully endorsing authenticity. That's what brought the house down, after all, echoing Esther's apartment burning down. Each is a result of a stupid little mistake, but it's hard not read into it more.
life is fucked.
This may sound pathetic, but fuck it. Reading The Recognitions was one of the highlights of my life.
The Recs. is the most important work by a major figure with a unique descriptive/interpretive voice in English literature.
It is essential. Right up there next to Ulysses or GR, in fact I'd pose it as the bridge between modernism and post-modernism.
AtD is a Pynchon lark. I've never read it but it's considered third at best, possibly fourth or fifth, in terms of his catalog, absolutely inessential.
I love how much Gaddis shits on 'How to Win Friends and Influence People' along with advertising and television. I'm 70% through now and it's funny as fuck. Only pomo authors as funny as Gaddis are Pinecone and Barth.
>It is essential. Right up there next to Ulysses or GR, in fact I'd pose it as the bridge between modernism and post-modernism.
this. Pynchon got the name for Inherent Vice from how many times it's said in The Regconitions
>AtD is a Pynchon lark. I've never read it but it's considered third at best, possibly fourth or fifth, in terms of his catalog, absolutely inessential.
..by people who haven't read it and don't want to undertake it.
>I haven't read it
so, you don't get to offer an opinion...
DFW used to eat McDonalds and candy exclusively. It's the only meme literary lifestyle worth living.
I read JR and loved it but was exhausted by the end. How does it compare to The Recognitions?
Someone sell me on The Recognitions. I'm 400 pages in and it's killing. I don't know what the fuck is going on half the time and when I am able to comprehend something I can't see how it fits into the bigger picture. After every chapter, I check the Gaddis annotations website and realise I missed just abiut everything - not just references, but basic plot points too. I will of course finish it eventually, but I feel like I need some way of 'opening' it up so it isn't a massive slog.
my man I'm not even joking but you are too stupid for that book. try reading something easier like Steinbeck or something.
I see, so he committed suicide to save himself the embarrassment of dying of a heart attack because of bad diet
I'm aware of that. But I've started it now so I may as well finish it.
no that's silly. just read it in a year or two.
If I were only a hundred pages in then I'd have no problem putting it aside, but 400 pages is far too much.
Out of interest, what did you like about the book?
it was funny as fuck.
Fuck you that image made me want a burger
made me want their spicy fries. those are some yummy fries.
Read Carpenter's Gothic first to see if you even like his writing.
He ate a lot of fruit on that cruise ship tho so I doubt his diet was that bad. Dude wasn't a ham planet
>Otto getting the counterfeit money from his "dad" was the funniest part. That whole chain of events including his real dad and Santa Clause. I was literally laughing out loud.
Which sections did you find funniest?
anything with the reverend. wyatt back home. the parties.
recognitions is probably the greatest piece of literature written in english 2bh especially the themes of fraud which are quite pertinent nowadays
Recognitions is one of my all time favs... went to Rome a few weeks ago just to visit San Clemente and the mythraic altar.
>mfw Wyatt eats the bread