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/lit/ - Literature

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2867930 No.2867930[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

Let's decide once and for all which is the biggest swinging dick of the postmodern movement:

Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon?
Or
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace?

Which is a more significant work? Which has had the largest cultural impact? Which is objectively better?

>> No.2867936

>postmodern movement
>objectively better

>> No.2867935

Gravity's Rainbow

>> No.2867940

William S. Burroughs

>> No.2867947

Infinite Jest

GR is very rooted in its post-beat style and it appeals to a very specific generation (see: the whole veneration of it by Timothy Leary, McKenna etc). It is beautiful but Infinite Jest (I think) will be very important and be somewhat of a signifier of a new beginning or end in literature.

>> No.2867951

Depression? Tennis?? Suicide??? def. Infinite Jest :)
honestly though, I haven't read either of those books, but a lot of my friends are trying to get me to read Infinite Jest.

>> No.2867959
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2867959

>>2867936
That's the joke

>> No.2867968

hate to break it to you, but postmodernism (in literature) was already over long before Infinite Jest was written.

>> No.2867969
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2867969

I would say GR is more significant as a piece of literature, even if only because its been around long enough for its influence to really be seen - there probably wouldn't be any Infinite Jest without GR.

>Objectively better
>Pic related

>> No.2867972

>>2867968
In a lot of ways I think it can be viewed as a postmodern throwback, or at the very least a bridge text between postmodernism and metamodernism.

>> No.2867974

>>2867969
your pic related your post!!

>> No.2867977
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2867977

'Ada', even though it's not very well-known

>> No.2867975

>>2867974
Ice burn

>> No.2867982

Under the Volcano, fuck the haters

>> No.2868011

Does Gravity's Rainbow really contain that many dicks? If so I may have to pick up a copy and give it a go.

>> No.2868018

>>2867982
>Under the Volcano
>pomo or maximalist

did you know that that's one of DFW's favourite books, btw?

on topic: I think Gaddis or McElroy has the biggest pomo cock.

>> No.2868026

>>2868011
Just everything sex related really, although a lot of stuff (the rocket obsessions, the Octopus rape(s), etc.) are phallic as fuck.

>> No.2868035

Does anyone really write hysterical realism in the vein of Pynchon and Wallace currently? I know Pynchon is still writing, but Inherent Vice is a lot more toned down than his other stuff

>> No.2868043
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2868043

>>2868026
I was kind of hoping for random dicks for no reason, but that sounds interesting actually.

Pic related.

>> No.2868049

>>2868035
ben marcus

i think it's viewed as a bit passé now, though.

>> No.2868077

What the fuck is "hysterical realism"?

>> No.2868098

Neither - it's Terra Nostra by Carlos Fuentes.

>> No.2868109

>>2868077
>What the fuck is "hysterical realism"?
Anyone.

>> No.2868115

>>2868109
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hysterical_realism

>> No.2868127

>>2868115
Recherché postmodernism sounds better.