From: Ed
Category: Amis
Date: 9/3/99
Time: 2:45:39 PM
Remote Name: 194.230.196.41
I have to agree with you. AaB exemplifies the decline of a genre, even if Hornby did start it. (Arguably, though, I suppose, MA began 'Lad Lit'.)
My elementary take on Pynchon is that he straddles the ground between poetry & prose; the no-man's land few writers ever manage to enter. Prose with soul, poetry without form, which is what we all find compelling in MA. Take, for instance, even his titles: The Crying with its duality brings a lyrical tone from the outset; Gravity's Rainbow likewise. Metaphysical is probably the right description, which is where the Yeats connection comes in. As far as The Crying goes, it seems, as you alluded to, to be reworking the early c20th school of literary musicality - with its leitmotifs & counterpoint - into a syncopated 60s version. It reminded me of Burroughs Naked Lunch initially, but its lyricism differentiated it from the deliberate prosaic hallucinogenicism of the latter.
I suspect that Lane is right about MA's attitude to Pynchon; he palms Updike et al off on us, knowing that we will not forsake him for them as we might with Pynchon or Delillo.