So, I'm about 150 pages or so from the end of this monstrous, chaotic, occasionally entertaining, occasionally infuriating, occasionally boring novel, and, in researching it, I noticed that it was actually nominated for the Nebula Award for its year. And lost. This I find very interesting - it's considered one of the best American novels ever written, certainly one of the best post-modern novels (if also one of the most impenetrable), and yet it lost the Nebula Award to, if I remember correctly, Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama.
Now, clearly Gravity's Rainbow is a "better" novel than Rendezvous with Rama, which isn't even Clarke's best novel. Literarily speaking, it's more ambitious, more experimental, more sustained, more varied, more everything, basically...but maybe that wasn't the issue - maybe they just decided it wasn't science fiction (or fantasy, I suppose.)
I'm interested in this question. Has anyone here read this crazy novel? And does anyone have any opinions about its eligibility for the Nebula Award? Can it be considered science fiction? Is it certainly not science fiction? What do you think?
Now, clearly Gravity's Rainbow is a "better" novel than Rendezvous with Rama, which isn't even Clarke's best novel. Literarily speaking, it's more ambitious, more experimental, more sustained, more varied, more everything, basically...but maybe that wasn't the issue - maybe they just decided it wasn't science fiction (or fantasy, I suppose.)
I'm interested in this question. Has anyone here read this crazy novel? And does anyone have any opinions about its eligibility for the Nebula Award? Can it be considered science fiction? Is it certainly not science fiction? What do you think?
