/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.3738653]

So what does /lit/ think of William Vollmann?

Personally, I'm mixed. I read his novel "The Royal Family" about a month ago. While I didn't hate it, it had enough flaws that I wouldn't recommend it.

On the other hand, he fascinates me as a figure. Reading about what the guy's done with his life just astonishes me. Also, his work ethic is so ridiculous that I can't help but admire it.

I'm thinking about trying out "Europe Central". Is that worth the effort?

[Anonymous No.3738656]

>>3738653
Also, the guy gives Bukowski a run for his money as the ugliest writer I've ever seen.

[Anonymous No.3738665]

>>3738656
>the guy gives Bukowski a run for his money as the ugliest writer

which is one reason I'll never read Bukowski or this guy. Ugly writers aren't worth it.

I've skimmed bukowski and his writing seems to be just as ugly as he is. Ugly people shouldn't be taken seriously imo.

[Anonymous No.3738674]

Third-rate Pynchon desperate to impress with quantity rather than quality. Critics taken in by sheer volume: 20 books written before the age of 50, including Rising Up and Rising Down, 3,300 pages; Europe Central, 811 pages; The Royal Family, 780 pages; Imperial, 1,344 pages. Grist for dissertation mills, intends not to be read but admired, motivated by the same incessant logorrhea as David Kirby and Albert Goldbarth in poetry. Consistent strain of misogynist sadomasochism overlooked by awed critics. Hunting down prostitutes (especially Southeast Asian prostitutes) has been uber-nerdish preoccupation, both in life and writing. Stepped into the breach left by Pynchon's long silences, determined to churn out a full Pynchon a year. Encapsulates ethical vacuity of American fiction after the collapse of 1970s postmodernism. Any moral meaning is buried in indigestible compendiums of graceless sentences. His few readable pieces are those heavily edited by conventional magazines (such as his Taliban piece edited 40 times by the New Yorker). Intentionally kills narrative with digression, to prove his superiority over other writers. His travel books follow Orientalist conventions--the coy outsiderness--despite his radical pomo self-image. Myth of Vollmann the Nobelist has been assiduously cultivated--by himself! Among his notes to his poor Viking editor, Paul Slovak, on being advised to cut his books: "I actually believe I have a shot at winning the Nobel Prize"; "Almost never do I read the final product"; "I believe that this book is worthy of standing in the shadow of Gibbon"; "It should be classed in the canon of great books."

[Anonymouse No.3738714]

Never read any of his books, but the few essays I've read of his displayed a degree of stylistic talent, critical capacity, and eye. Both ere in Harper's, one was on homelessness and the other on suicide methods. Check them out if you can find them for free.

[Anonymous No.3738720]

He writes like a maniac. He actually wrote a 3000 page treatise on violence and to top it all off it's actually readable. Honestly, he's a natural, but a lot of what the above post mentioned rings true. I think you can read a page or two of anything he's written and find out how you feel about him. A love or hate sort of author, I don't see there being much of an in between. He's both impressive and vacuous. Pretentious and endearing. Definitely a strange figure that I can't put my finger on. But for what it's worth, I've been enthralled by everything I've ever read by him.

I'd say if the subject matter of Europe Central interests you at all, it's certainly worth the read.

[Anonymouse No.3738729]

>>3738714
Thinking back on them a little, I was actually really impressed by his honesty and his voice. I had previously read >>3738674 someplace, and the principle alone of his output and arrogance was enough to turn me off. As a result, the only reason I read the first essay, the one on homelessness, was by accident. Made me consider the fact that I actually knew nothing about the guy besides anecdotal evidence that he's a colossal prick.
Probably inviting the trolls here, but it was better journalism/essay writing than I've seen from either Franzen or DFW.

[Anonymous No.3738801]

>>3738665
>Ugly people shouldn't be taken seriously imo.
k

[Anonymous No.3738808]

you all seem to know what you're talking about