Richard Powers rules

Richard Powers spoke last week at the Portland Art Museum as a special
event in the Portland Arts & Lectures series. I was so thrilled that
he was coming to town -- he doesn't tour very often, and only made
four stops on this particular junket.

Incredibly brilliant, he also came across as earnest, generous,
thoughtful, humble, and delightfully in love with what he does. He
read a story written especially for this tour, called "Modulation," in
which four characters (SATB, for you music lovers) deal with parallel
"invasions" of a nagging tune in the brain and a computer virus that
destroys music download programs. I think he said it would be
published later this year in the 50th issue of Conjunctions.

His novels are marvels of ideas and wordplay -- mixing literature,
science, and good old fashioned character development and plot drive.
I think of him sometimes as Pynchon lite, which is not intended as an
insult in the least, because I admire and respect Pynchon, but don't
really LIKE his books that much -- there's something cool and distant
about them, and the characters seem more like ideas and cartoons than
real people. Powers describes real people, intelligent people, and
though the ideas challenge my mind, the plotlines and characters also
punch me in the heart.

I think, since the death of John Fowles, Powers has become my favorite
living novelist.

To my astonishment, he recognized my name when I spoke to him
afterward. I thought it might be an error, or he was just being
polite, but he said "Internet reviewer," and I realized it was because
I had written synopses of his early books on AllReaders.com many years
ago.


David Loftus

David Loftus wrote:
> Richard Powers spoke last week at the Portland Art Museum as a special
> event in the Portland Arts & Lectures series. I was so thrilled that
> he was coming to town -- he doesn't tour very often, and only made
> four stops on this particular junket.
>
> Incredibly brilliant, he also came across as earnest, generous,
> thoughtful, humble, and delightfully in love with what he does. He
> read a story written especially for this tour, called "Modulation," in
> which four characters (SATB, for you music lovers) deal with parallel
> "invasions" of a nagging tune in the brain and a computer virus that
> destroys music download programs. I think he said it would be
> published later this year in the 50th issue of Conjunctions.
The only thing I've read of him is Echo Maker. Very good, maybe even
than better than very good but maybe my expectations haven't gotten to high?

--PS