Just out of curiosity, what is the appeal of this type of work?
Basically, subjectivity aside, writers like Pynchon and Wallace are just way better than 90% of other writers out there (that I have come across), in terms of their grasp of language. Also, both are hilarious in a pitch black sort of way.
Probably worth noting that Chromatose's excerpt wasn't really representitive of Pynchon's work.
"They rode out to the site in a green, grinning Ford staff car. Marvy soon as he slides behind the wheel turns into a fanged dipsomaniac -
eeeeerrrrr leaving rubber enough to condom a division, zero to 70 before the echo's died, trying to run down bicyclists right'n'left, stampeding the livestock, whilst Bloodt Chiclitz, whooping happily, a champagne bottle in each fist, urges him on - Marvy bellowing "San Antonya Rose," his fav'rite song, Chiclitz screaming out the window admonitions like "Fuck not with the Kid, lest instead of fucker thou become fuckee," which takes a while and draws only a few bewildered Fascist salutes from old ladies and little children at the roadside."
Seriously one of the biggest and best sentences of all time.
How did I miss this thread the first time around???
Yeah, DFW is tits. Never read Infinite Jest, but his short stories are fuckin ace. There's one where this dude suddenly remembers an incident from his childhood where his dad randomly pulls out his dick and starts waving it in front the dude's face. I think it's being made into a movie now.
Haha I had completely forgotten about that, I think that'd be from Brief Interviews With Hideous Men? In which case the movie is already out:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790627.
Infinite Jest was the first of his I read, and still one of the best things I have ever read. Also his last, unfinished novel, The Pale King was released a couple of weeks ago, picked up a copy the other day and it looks pretty amazing.
