To me sounds like he meant it but maybe he didn't intend for it to come out it did. You could definitely tell though he still had a great fondness for Poul Anderson.
Interesting how he avoided reading his peers. Maybe concerned he would lose his uniqueness if he did? By the way, don't know if you're be care to read this or not but here's a nice write-up that first introduced me to Jack Vance (the site also introduced me to RA Lafferty): http://greatsfandf.com/AUTHORS/JackVance.php
So far i've only read one thing of his, the first Dying Sun book, but i'm planning to read the Lyonesse series soon.
Yeah, now that you quoted it I recall it being a little bit more serious. I don’t know. Is the story about Herbert fooling people into thinking he was an accomplished pianist at parties on that interview? Star ship sopha has at least one more recent JV interview.
I have always thought that the first Dune book was very Vancian what with all the footnotes. Both used the other’s and Poul Anderson’s name as anagrams of characters in their books. I think Vance wrote ‘blue world/the Kragen’ as a tongue in cheek nod at Herbert’s Dune.
It’s kinda funny, that first Dying Earth book is really nothing like his subsequent efforts for Dying Earth, I think a lot of folks have sorta are surprised when they read the rest. I think it’s brilliant, a sort of darker but still funny PG Wodehouse vibe.
Lyonesse is fantastic, JV doing pre-Arthurian.
I also recommend
Dying Earth series
Demon Princes series (sci-fi)
Planet of Adventure series (sci-fi)
To Live Forever (stand alone sci-fi)
RA Lafferty is a truly unique great writer, criminally unknown. But for my money I have to say that the best I have come across are Jack Vance and Gene Wolfe. It’s funny that both RA Lafferty and Gene Wolfe are/were conservative Catholics.
Here’s a NY Times Magazine article from 2009:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/magazine/19Vance-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Here’s Jack Vance’s official site:
Freegards