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It's gotta be Nabakov. Stylistically, he just can't help himself ;)

*Spoiler Alert

it appears you did get it- the existential conceit was just that, ending on a 'i'm a man of my word' note. It was an exercise in 'what if we were just 98.6's, what if we were just...

His ability to cut, paste & copy went unchallenged.

Are you kidding? How about the ending? The race against time & umcompromising finish gave me palpatations. Pablo's massacre, told by Pilar, was absolutely brutal. This is actually my favorite...

Some of the most comprehensively detailed work on Dostoevsky can be found in Joseph Frank's many volumes, broken up by period:...

Here's the most recent:
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49449&highlight=cormac+blood+meridian

It's funny you mention both authors, seeing that I'm on a huge DFW bender and had just spliced in a re-read of the Sun Also Rises.

To answer your questions, his style is constant throughout all...

I'll echo your literal take. I immediately thought of Crime & Punishment in its unrelenting asphyxiation when 'take your breath away' entered my subconscious. C&P has a tangible power that I've not...

Enjoy BK; I'm one of the few that prefers Crime & Punishment but I think my lack of interest in straight forward theology hamstrung my enjoyment of BK. You've definitely got some colossal sized work...

Though it is a bit of a stretch, have you read On the Road by Kerouac? The main character fits fragments of what you're searching for.

Rores-
You get into Wallace yet? Hideous men was my catalyst- I'm now reading Broom & Jest at the same time...I'll be finished w/ Broom months before- but am enjoying the racketballing of chaotic...

I'm also a fan, though my wife loathes & I mean LOATHES him to the tune of 'I have NO idea what you see in this writer.'

His writing is so stripped at points it is skeletal. I think his lack of...

Great examples thus far- but this, for personal reasons, really pleased me to see. Watership Down was one of the first real literary works I enjoyed & I found the film to share all its heart &...

And a sharp point it is :cool:

Mal,
The actual events are relatively banal in most of Joyce's work. The burning desire to 'unlock what he means' and elucidate what's actually going on tends to lead to anti-climax. His subject...

Cohn was more pathetic than prejudiced. The fact that he is jewish is only a topic of elaboration in the early chapters & is more of a commentary on the shift in perception once he got into...

Big fan of Marilynne Robinson. The last American winner of the Nobel, Toni Morrison, aint too bad either.

Infinite Jest, thanks to this forum. Lit Nit should abscond some type of nudge fee to Barnes & Noble, eh?

Certain authors may strike you more vividly than others. Frivilous peripheral descriptions require you to do the work, but striking creations w/in a gripping story do the visual work for you- all...

I agree- though the comparator I'd use from Vonnegut's compenium as a superior novel is Sirens of Titan- now that was a helluva book!

Vonnegut's Sirens of Titan- and the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which was chiefly influenced by the former novel.

A common theme could be existentialism- w/ the Metamorphosis establishing a sub-human reason for existence in the literal sense & the Stranger dealing w/ a reason for existence for a more...

In terms of pure prose, Marilynne Robinson has the potential to be mentioned w/ the rest of the pantheon of top writers, especially if she thickens her resume over the next decade. I'm a big Delillo...

Ivan, though the most difficult soul to reach of the three, is the most intellectually provocative. He lacks Alyosha's strength of soul & backbone of faith, but his torment was the most fascinating...

Well from a critical praise & raw girth perpsective, Underworld followed suit a year later. While far from Wallace's eccentricity (a la the previously recommended Gravity's Rainbow), it has similar...