Jack Vance the literary science fiction writer?

I’ve never heard of him, but the New York Times says Jack Vance writes literature rather than genre:

If you had never read Vance and were browsing a bookstore’s shelf, you might have no particular reason to choose one of his books instead of one next to it by A. E. van Vogt, say, or John Varley. And if you chose one of these alternatives, you would go on your way to the usual thrills with no idea that you had just missed out on encountering one of American literature’s most distinctive and undervalued voices.

Given what I wrote in Science Fiction, literature, and the haters, I can’t help being intrigued. In the article, Michael Chabon goes on to say that “If ‘The Last Castle’ or ‘The Dragon Masters’ had the name Italo Calvino on it, or just a foreign name, it would be received as a profound meditation…” But I can’t find either easily available on Amazon or Barnes & Noble; Abe Books has a number of copies, but most seem to be ancient paperbacks in questionable condition. Still, a few of his novels are available, including Tales of the Dying Earth, which I hope to read shortly.