Serious novels have such a hard time in our culture. It's gotten much, much worse over the years during my lifetime. However, perhaps extraordinary things are now hidden somewhere on the Internet. I suspect so!
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Gravity's Rainbow Appears
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On this day in 1973 Thomas Pynchon's third novel, Gravity's Rainbow, entered American bookstores and split the literary world. Pulitzer Prize jurors unanimously recommended it, but Pulitzer advisory board members called it "unreadable" and "obscene." The novel seduced many critics but found few readers who would finish its 760 pages on the first attempt. Meanwhile, the author stayed out of the public eye, just as he had at the publication of his first two books. His fan club continued to grow, intrigued by the most camera-shy writer since J. D. Salinger.
As a result of the deep division, no Pulitzer Prize for fiction was awarded. Gravity's Rainbow did share the National Book Award that year. Pynchon, however, declined to appear at the ceremony.
Now 67 Pynchon still prefers to walk incognito through Manhattan, where he lives with his wife, a literary agent, and a teenage son.
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