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Mar. 13th, 2011 01:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seekingferretA quick observation: Freilichen is a fantastic, fantastic word.
And, so that this post is not a twitter post, because I'm so not the twitter type, some thoughts on White Noise, which I have just finished.
It's my first DeLillo, and it somehow left me unconvinced. I'm going to give him more chance to convince me, partially because I need to read Ratner's Star before I can finish my Infinite Jest MIT Language Riots fanfic. And partially because while it left me unconvinced, it didn't leave me with a strong sense of dislike, merely an uncertainty about whether DeLillo's message is worth hearing.
It's strangely structured for a short novel. It's really two novellas about the same characters without any break between them. But despite not having a break, it has two climactic scenes, two thematic build-ups, two structures that pretty much leave each other alone except in one very specific interaction. One story is about community and disaster. The other is about growing into a marriage. The McGuffin in one story is a cloud of ratpoison. The McGuffin in the other is a pill that causes memory loss. I think in a bigger novel, one that was also trying to weave ten other strands together, these stories would feel less unfruitfully bizarre. There is not enough worldbuilding for DeLillo's fantasy to hold together, though.
But I'm going to hit Ratner's Star pretty soon, I suspect, and Underworld is on the horizon for someday, when I've cleared out my backlog of macrofictions by finishing 2666 and Tristram Shandy and Midnight's Children. And I probably ought to read Pafko at the Wall. DeLillo's writing seems like it might be kind of like Aaron Sorkin's, or William Gibson's, or like wedding food. It's not good for you, but it tastes so amazing you keep coming back for more.
Also, I've finished SGA and read "Written by the Victors" and am working on assembling my critical thoughts on that, but that's a whole project. It's harder than it ought to be to find critical essays on "Written by the Victors" amidst all the short, uninteresting rave recommendations. I've found a few good pieces, but not many. I need to know whose opinions I'm pushing against before I can write that thought.
And, so that this post is not a twitter post, because I'm so not the twitter type, some thoughts on White Noise, which I have just finished.
It's my first DeLillo, and it somehow left me unconvinced. I'm going to give him more chance to convince me, partially because I need to read Ratner's Star before I can finish my Infinite Jest MIT Language Riots fanfic. And partially because while it left me unconvinced, it didn't leave me with a strong sense of dislike, merely an uncertainty about whether DeLillo's message is worth hearing.
It's strangely structured for a short novel. It's really two novellas about the same characters without any break between them. But despite not having a break, it has two climactic scenes, two thematic build-ups, two structures that pretty much leave each other alone except in one very specific interaction. One story is about community and disaster. The other is about growing into a marriage. The McGuffin in one story is a cloud of ratpoison. The McGuffin in the other is a pill that causes memory loss. I think in a bigger novel, one that was also trying to weave ten other strands together, these stories would feel less unfruitfully bizarre. There is not enough worldbuilding for DeLillo's fantasy to hold together, though.
But I'm going to hit Ratner's Star pretty soon, I suspect, and Underworld is on the horizon for someday, when I've cleared out my backlog of macrofictions by finishing 2666 and Tristram Shandy and Midnight's Children. And I probably ought to read Pafko at the Wall. DeLillo's writing seems like it might be kind of like Aaron Sorkin's, or William Gibson's, or like wedding food. It's not good for you, but it tastes so amazing you keep coming back for more.
Also, I've finished SGA and read "Written by the Victors" and am working on assembling my critical thoughts on that, but that's a whole project. It's harder than it ought to be to find critical essays on "Written by the Victors" amidst all the short, uninteresting rave recommendations. I've found a few good pieces, but not many. I need to know whose opinions I'm pushing against before I can write that thought.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-13 05:35 pm (UTC)Were you the person who recced Five Equations that Changed the World? That's right, isn't it?
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-13 05:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-13 07:56 pm (UTC)(What did you think of SGA, by the way?)