John Freeman´s Experiments
John Freeman reviewing Only Revolutions:
The stunning lack of experimentation in American fiction during the past two decades partly explains why [Mark Z. Danielewski´s] 2000 debut, "House of Leaves," felt like a lightning bolt, even if some of its wattage was borrowed from other inventors. In an atmosphere of unquestioned realism, it challenged readers to keep track of a book within a book within a book, to sort out false stories from real ones, and to bend the laws of geometry.
Ummm, hell-fucking-lo? Stunning lack of experimentation in American fiction in the past 20 years? John, you´ve been reading The New York Times too much, amigo. Here´s a few titles to check out.
Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace
Underworld, Don DeLillo
The Gold Bug Variations, Richard Powers
The Intuitionist, Colson Whitehead
John Henry Days
The Puttermesser Papers, Cynthia Ozick
The Tunnel, William Gass
CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, George Saunders
The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen
A Frolic of His Own, William Gaddis
Reader's Block, David Markson
Wittgenstein´s Mistress
Multiple books by Vollmann
Multiple books by Scott Erickson
Not to mention, so putting your text at 45 degree angles now passes for literary experimentalism? News to me. Oh, a book within a book! How clever! Sort out false stories from real ones? Whoa!
Someone should send Freeman copies of Sorrentino´s library.
Oh, and also, House of Leaves was a thunderbolt? Again, news to me.
Can we get reviewers that don´t make assinine statements?
For the first 40 pages, it's nearly impossible to make heads or tails of what in the world these two are going on about, no matter which way you flip the book. While "House of Leaves" pushed the boundaries of genre and narrative, it pretty much left language alone, content to mimic and spoof the style of horror and academic genres.
"Only Revolutions" is, as its title promises, a true revolution - it wants to overthrow not just how we read, but what we read. Ever see "Sunnysurrounded" or "butterboys" or "viatotopolis" in the dictionary?
When did runningwordstogether become playing with language? Anyone can invent words and stick them in a book. Anyone can write 40 pages worth of shit that doesn´t make sense.
No, never mind. We´re anointing Mark Z. Danielewski the NEXTBIGTHING (see, I´m experimenting!).
