/lit/ - Literature

>>16787152
Nobody recognizes this shit irl.

Masterpiece.

>>16787152
Half of us think it's Gaddis' greatest work and deserves a place alongside the greats (I don't know how many of the people who believe this have actually read anything beyond it) and the other half think it is not only Gaddis' worst work but is also an absolute waste of time to read (see also Jack Green's Fire the Bastards!).

>>16788035
What do you think his greatest work is?

so many zoomers making gaddis threads with the reissue

>>16788125
I've only read TR, JR and CG but I think it's a toss up between the first two. The first time I read TR it took me 6 months because I took a 5-month break after Wyatt crashes Recktall Brown's party. Immediately after finishing it in October I began rereading it and finished it in less than 2 weeks. That's happened to me with Ulysses, Moby Dick, Don Quixote, Rabelais, Anna Karenina, every "big, important" book that I've felt a real passion for. JR took me 3 weeks of slow, methodical reading where I would sometimes reread the pages to fully grasp what was going on (I recommend first time readers just power through it and let the confusion and disorientation wash over your eyes). It's an incredible book, hilarious and frightening how close it is to us, but the first one will always be dearer to me for being that first thunder-clap of surprise of discovery.

>>16788232
based taste. I’m reading the third book of Pantagruel now. I started the recognitions about ten times over the course of four years. When I finally stuck with it I finished it in a week

>>16787152
/lit/ is kind of bullshit to be since people never really talked about Gaddis until nyrb put these editions out LOL

>>16788035
>and the other half think it is not only Gaddis' worst work but is also an absolute waste of time to read
No one has expressed this opinion. And don't ref the initial reviews. In fact Gaddis inb4s them in the book....

>>16788665
gaddis was memed here when I first visited this board in like 2014 or 2015

>>16788232
JR isn't confusing or disorienting, It was carefully designed to be understood claerly (as if(!) it were a radioplay(!)). If you had trouble understanding it for some reason, there's something wrong with you. Really. I'm being serious. If you're able to understand something like This American Life you can understand JR.

>how close it is to us
The main issue with JR is we've already passed its future. In 1976 it was new and shockingly whirring, but by 1984 it was as whatever as 1984 is to us now, in the sense of WOAH CAN YOU IMAGINE A WORLD.

Big comma important in scare quotes is the worst thing I've seen on this board.

>>16788725
You didn't read JR.

>>16788773
Lazy bait post.

I wonder what the case is that JR is better. The characters aren't. You should be angry at Gaddis for putting Bast in front of us. Maybe he counted on you not reading The Recognitions.

>>16788685
yeah too bad I joined in 2016

How does it compare with the meme trilogy?

>>16789153
Better than IJ. Inferior to Ulysses. On the same level as GR.

>>16787152
>Gaddis thread
>Vague statements sucking him off
>A retard believes this is better than IJ
As always, Gaddis threads are pseud-central.

>>16788135
>NOOOO YOU CAN'T JUST DISCUSS A BOOK THAT IS BACK IN PRINT

>>16788725
JR is less a radioplay and more a player piano roll, where reading the unattributed dialogue roughly equivocates a musician trying to sightread the holes in a roll as music.

>>16789794
Interesting. But why would he use that when he seethed so endlessly against that bit of tech?

>>16787152
>tfw dropped it 400 pages in a year ago and have to reread it now

>>16790848
Why? Just don't read it all.

>>16788135
based nyrb educating zooms

>>16788383
>based taste
baste tased

>>16788665
that's just not true newfag

Is it worth trying to read this if I only have a vague knowledge of art history?

>>16790081
The reader's frustration with trying to breathe some kind of literary tune into holes in a piano roll fits with the overall theme of the book of business and modernization trampling over art. Your frustration mirrors Bast's frustration.

>>16790923
>900 pages of postmodern art references that you need reading guide to even vaguely understand
What do you think?

>>16792603
Yes?

>>16792706
Sure, go for it.

>>16790923
Yes

>>16787152
Long, difficult, sometimes like trudging through treacle, often brilliant

>>16790923
https://www.williamgaddis.org/recognitions/I1anno1.shtml