So, from your point of non-memetic view, is The Recognitions really that hard?
I'm considering my options and, currently, I have to decide on which books I'll spend my money with, and that geezer Gaddis has been scratching my fancy all the way down due now. That being, English is also my second language and I've been threading nicely through anglophone literature, from Sherlock Holmes, my first exposition to foreign works of literature, to The New York Trilogy, my last read. So, considering that I'm familiar with some hard-ish books (Grande Sertão: Veredas, V., 2666 and The Portrait of The Artist as A Young Man are some of them that come to mind) and that I have a dictionary, how readable/understandable is The Recognitions for a non-native?
I'm reading it at the moment, the hardest part is all the references to Flemish painting and religious stuff. www.williamgaddis.org/recognitions/ will help for any references you're stuck on. You should be fine though, go for it.
>>7789376
Grasping its symbolism and messages and references is extremely difficult, yes, but most of the time the prose isn't too bad. I would recommend reading it ASAP. You should also check out Gaddis' chum--William Gass.
>>7789434
>--
>Gass
You know the drill
>>7789508
I haven't read Hopscotch, but out of the other 3 The Tunnel was my favorite by far. I love Gass so much
Something about Gaddis gives me the impression that he was born in the wrong generation.
>>7789508
Can't speak for the others but The Recognitions is so fucking fantastic. Got The Tunnel on my bookshelf waiting though.
>>7789508
I haven't gotten to Hopscotch yet, but I highly recommend you read both The Recognitions and The Tunnel.
just read gaddis. it's difficult enough to be challenging and involving, but nothing impossible to surpass with a bit of effort. the end of a bit of toil is rewarded with some of the best writing you'll find. ever.
The Recognitions is for sure difficult in some ways but it's not written in an incredibly experimental way, it's all straightforward language but very vague at times and really easy to get lost in certain situations and scenarios if you aren't really focused. I read the synopsis later on on what >>7789414 mentioned and realized I had missed a few things, I read through it in a week and honestly wish I spent 3-4 weeks on it.
>>7789549
It's an observation I've made. I don't know if it's just The Recognitions or what(I've only ever read excerpts of Gaddis' writings)but his writing feels like it might have been written a generation too late.
