It just so happens that my husband is a big fan of Thomas Pynchon, and he finished the latest book yesterday. He enjoyed it very much (he said so, but I could tell from the obsessive way he read it). And then I stumble across this:
Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent: The Myth of "Just An Author"
It also just happens that I was wondering about this same question myself--could you be a Thomas Pynchon nowadays?
I don't mean could you be as good as... Because for one, I'm not even going to raise the issue. I would be judging a great author and comparing myself to him, and I just don't do that. Either I would come across as vain and self-congratulatory, or envious and petty. There's no way around that.
Besides, my true literary idols are long dead and gone, and emulating them would be absurd, since their world is as long past and buried as they are.
So what was my point...?
Oh yes. Could you hide out like Pynchon and be famous for it nowadays?
Read Nathan Bransford's post. I totally agree with him. And he says it better than I could. But then he's given it more thought than I did.
Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent: The Myth of "Just An Author"
It also just happens that I was wondering about this same question myself--could you be a Thomas Pynchon nowadays?
I don't mean could you be as good as... Because for one, I'm not even going to raise the issue. I would be judging a great author and comparing myself to him, and I just don't do that. Either I would come across as vain and self-congratulatory, or envious and petty. There's no way around that.
Besides, my true literary idols are long dead and gone, and emulating them would be absurd, since their world is as long past and buried as they are.
So what was my point...?
Oh yes. Could you hide out like Pynchon and be famous for it nowadays?
Read Nathan Bransford's post. I totally agree with him. And he says it better than I could. But then he's given it more thought than I did.
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