Posted by Sterling on 30/4/2009, 20:11:37, in reply to "Franny and Zooey / Lost in the Funhouse"
98.71.91.151
I've read quite a bit of Barth. My favorite is easily The Sot Weed Factor. It's both hilarious and sad, and the 18th century pastiche is amazing. Many years ago, I read End of the Road. I recall thinking that it was good, but it is, as I recall, a conventional novel without the post-modern flourishes for which Barth is famous. Giles Goat Boy is long and pretty entertaining, but certainly not where I would start.
It's been many years since I read The Crying of Lot 49 as well. It is easily my least favorite of Pynchon's novels. I was disappointed in it when I read it, and I have never felt inclined to read it again. It has the sole virtue in his oeuvre of being short.
I have never read Richardson. My hero Fielding's contempt for Pamela warned me off. I may sometime read Clarissa, but I do feel a bit intimidated by its length. (Life is short.)
Franny and Zooey is OK, as I recall. Very short -- two brief novelettes, I think. I know you don't like short stories, joffre, (me either), but I think that the Nine Stories might be superior Salinger to F&Z.
-
