…with Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day. And that’ll including the full weight of the 785 pages he did not read before deciding against it in the Morning News Tournament of Books.
Oh, Mr. Frere-Jones. Would you damn a Can record based on just its first 10 minutes? I think you would not.
I agree, and yet if he couldn’t finish it, and had to pick, this was the way to go. He should have finished it, but at least he didn’t give it a pass to the next round without reading the whole thing. If he found it unreadable, whatever else he’s judging would win by default, right?
However. The judges should read the books.
Perhaps we should storm the gates.
I thought his reasoning was ridiculous. Picking Atkinson just because he could get through the whole thing? And what was with the comment on Pynchon’s inner “Columbine teen” who’s “saying `Everyone is a philistine! Nobody understands REAL writing!`”? Reading Pynchon, I’ve NEVER felt condescended to like that. I think some people *assume* that’s what he’s doing because they feel intimidated by the effort it might take. But presupposing he’s being difficult on purpose to belittle his readers??