About 2. The Carpathians

I told a friend of mine here at Q. who works on Modernism that I had just read The Carpathians, and I mentioned the letters raining from the sky part. He laughed a lot and then mocked me for both reading and enjoying something so "preciously post-modern." I have to admit his mockery is not without basis, but I refuse to take entirely seriously anyone who thinks The Crying of Lot 49 is a great book. (Sorry Scott.)