> Theory. Anyway, Aaron Bady, a lit prof, wrote about Michaels' essay,
> Going Boom, http://www.bookforum.com/inprint/015_05/3274.
...in which Michaels has this to say:
"The past twenty-five years have been a pretty sad time for the American novel, and a lot of the best ones have been committed to historical caretaking. It’s no accident that Toni Morrison’s Beloved was proclaimed the best work of American fiction over the period by the New York Times or that prominent also-rans included Blood Meridian, Underworld, and The Plot Against America." (WB Michaels)
I can't speak for Bady, but as an ex-litcritter, who occasionally plays one on the Interwebs, I must say this: William Gibson's "Neuromancer" (1984) and Toni Morrison's "Beloved" (1987) are awe-inspiring texts, some of the most magnificent prose ever created. They need to be read together, as two meditations on the US Empire, one devoted to its future, the other devoted to its past. The ghosts of "Beloved" are one with Wintermute and Neuromancer.
-- DRR