Neal Stephenson's "Quicksilver" is out. "Quicksilver" is the first volume of the Baroque Cycle, a rather paranoid and playful historical epic (he's already written the other two volumes). The cycle concludes with "Cryptonomicon," which I read and thoroughly enjoyed. Doubtlessly, I could get wrapped up in the Baroque trilogy as well . . . at 1,000 pages a shot, Stephenson makes David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest"* look downright slim.
*I haven't read "Infinite Jest." For some reason -- maybe its length but more likely the lavish critical attention it received -- it's never appealed to me. As a fan of Thomas Pynchon, Steve Erickson and Don DeLillo, I suppose I should hang my head in shame. On the other hand, how many readers of "Infinite Jest" have availed themselves of lesser-known postmodern talents like Jack Womack? And there's still a massive contingent in the academic community that shuns Philip K. Dick because he was a "science fiction writer" -- and we all know that science fiction is just a bunch of prepubescent escapist trash, not "real literature" . . . Man, am I glad I'm out of college.
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