Re: Tom Robbins & Canadians
jason varsoke (jjv@caesun.msd.ray.com)
Thu, 29 Jul 1999 09:48:14 -0400 (EDT)
On Wed, 28 Jul 1999, Paul Kennedy wrote:
> Jesus Christ! People are proposing authors like Tom Robbins (whom I've
> praised to the hilt--if anyone cares to consult the archives.....) as
> LOVEable....
Tom Robbins: you know, everytime I read him I just get the sense of this
is an author who just likes to play with language. The problem is that I
can see that he's playing with language, rather than seeing it later.
He's been remarked as very similar to Vonnegut, but if you ask me he's
like Vonnegut on Prozac. There's no edge, not sardonic wit, no black
humor, and thus Robbins' writing seems to be overyly flowery and pale. He
just doesn't stir the bile in my stomach like Vonnegut does.
> But now we're talking Lenny Cohen....
>
> .... a compatriot.... A Great Canadian.... I remember standing in the
> upper stalls at the Usher Hall (be still my beating heart--and your's,
> Scottie....) for the final curtain call in a 1976 concert..... Lenny
> (who's reputation, in Scotland, was as a singer that one played to commit
> suicide by....) ran onstage and sang a rousing rendition of "I'm Only Doing
> It for the Money".....
>
> Nobody seems to understand that Canadians are ALWAYS trying to be funny....
Don't worry Paul, we americans don't take Canadians seriously.
(mark the above as an elbow jab joke and put that flame thrower away.)
-j