How to read Thomas Pynchon

Man alive, you read alot. By the way, I really enjoy the cultural signposts in among the economics.

I’ve read ‘The Crying of Lot 49′ multiple times; it is indeed the most accessible of Pynchon’s novels, which is probably why he doesn’t like it any more.

I’ve read ‘V’ two or three times and like it a lot, am reading ‘Gravity’s Rainbow’ a second time and am liking it better than the first time. I’ve read ‘Mason & Dixon’ only once and found it weak. I haven’t read the other two.

I agree completely that some of the set-pieces are brilliant and either evoke emotions from hilarity (the seduction of Oedipa Maas in CL49) to disgust (many of the Katje scenes in GR), depending.

The plots themselves don’t tend to do much except connect the set pieces and vignettes.

“Gravity’s rainbow” gets easier after the first 50-100 pages or so.

Let’s not forget the acceptance speech of the National Book Award in 1974 for Gravity’s Rainbow:

————quote————
However†¦I accept this financial stipulation – ah – stipend in behalf of Richard Python for the great contribution which to quote from some of the missiles which he has contributed†¦

Today we must all be aware that protocol takes precedence over procedure. However you say – WHAT THE – what does this mean†¦

…in relation to the tabulation whereby we must once again realize that the great fiction story is now being rehearsed before our very eyes, in the Nixon administration†¦

…indicating that only an American writer can receive†¦the award for fiction, unlike Solzinitski whose fiction does not hold water.

Comrades – friends, we are gathered here not only to accept in behalf of one recluse – one who has found that the world in itself which seems to be a time not of the toad – to quote Studs TurKAL.

And many people ask “Who are Studs TurKAL?† It’s not “Who are Studs TurKAL?† it’s “Who AM Studs TurKAL?†

This in itself is an edifice of the great glory that has gone beyond, and the intuitive feeling of the American people, based on the assumption that the intelligence not only as Mencken once said, “He who underestimates the American pubic – public, will not go broke.†

This is merely a small indication of this vast throng gathered here to once again behold and to perceive that which has gone behind and to that which might go forward into the future†¦we’ve got to hurdle these obstacles.

This is the MAIN deterrent upon which we have gathered our strength and all the others who say, “What the hell did that get?† – WE DON’T KNOW. We’ve got to perforce with all the loving boy†¦

And as Miller once said in one of his great novels – what did the †¦ that language is only necessary when communication is endangered. And you sit there bewildered, and Pinter who went further said “It is not the lack of communication but fear of communication.† THAT’S WHAT THE GODDAMN THING IS that we fear – communication.

Oh – fortunately the prize has only been given to authors – unlike the Academy Award which is given to a female and a male, indicating the derision of the human specie – God damn it!

But we have no paranoia, and Mr. Pynchon has attained, and has created for himself serenity, and it is only the insanity that has kept him alive in his paranoia.

We speak of the organ†¦of the orgasm†¦WHO THE HELL WROTE THIS? And the jury has determined to divide the prize between two writers – to Thomas Pynchon for his Gravity’s Rainbow.

Now Gravity’s Rainbow is a token of this man’s genius†¦he told me so himself†¦

…that he could†¦in other words, have been more specific, but rather than to allude the mundane, he has come to the conclusion that brevity is the importance of our shallow existence.

God damn. Ladies and Gentlemen. To the distinguished panel on the dais and to the other winners, for poetry and religion and science.

The time will come when religion will outlive its usefulness. Marx, Groucho Marx, once said that religion is the opiate of the people. I say that when religion outlives its usefulness, then opium†¦will be human†¦

All right†¦However, I want to thank Mr. Guinzburg, Tom Guinzburg of the Viking Press, who has made it possible for you people to be here this evening to enjoy the Friction Citation – the Fiction Citation. Gravity’s Rainbow – a small contribution to a certain degree, since there are over three and a half billion people in the world today. 218 million of them live in the United States which is a very, very small amount compared to those that are dying elsewhere†¦

Well, I say that you will be on the road to new horizons, for we who live in a society where sex is a commodity and a politician can become a TV personality, it’s not easy to conform if you have any morality†¦I said that myself many years ago†¦

But I do want to thank the bureau†¦I mean the committee, the organization for the $10,000 they’ve given out†¦tonight they made over $400,000 and I think that I have another appointment. I would like to stay here, but for the sake of brevity I must leave.

I do want to thank you, I want to thank Studs TurKAL. I want to thank Mr. Knopf who just ran through the auditorium and I want to thank Breshnev, Kissinger – acting President of the Unites States – and also want to thank Truman Capote and thank you.
————-endquote———-

That was Prof. Irwin Corey, Expert on Everything giving the speech. The reference to Mr. Knopf who just ran through the auditorium, was to a streaker.

As far as I’m concerned, Pynchon is a star in a very special subgenre: literature for grad students. (Or maybe literature for people who like it when their head hurts.) Once I left grad school myself, I found I’d lost all interest in the genre.

i think that a reading of Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle indicates his IQ and intellect is even higher than Pynchon’s.

This may be, but proves only that IQ and writing ability are not correlated.

I like Stephenson too, but c’mon.

I finished Gravity’s Rainbow about a month ago. READ IT! Haha, I’m glad I found this blog because I’ve been dying to gush to someone about this book! It really isn’t as difficult as it may seem at first. I think Rushdie said that, if I can butcher this quote, that all masterpieces teach you how to read them (?). It’s tough to get into, but once you get over the initial hump it becomes much less taxing. I disagree that the story falls apart, as you mention, though — I can see where you’re coming from, and I found the ending to be jarring (last 60 or so pages) — but I reflected upon it for a few days after finishing it and developed a great appreciation for Pynchon’s architectural skills, though it does leave you with more questions than answers. It’s, in part, a profound metaphysical treatise on human nature (would you agree?), written in the most beautiful prose I’ve ever encountered. Also, some of the most sexually explicit/illicit episodes I’ve ever come across in a novel. It’s written in an unbridled, eloquent, unashamed, maybe nihilistic, human voice, and pulls no punches, and though I’m no prude by any means, I was surprised to find myself honestly questioning his inclusion of some rather taboo sexual encounters (e.g. incest, pedophilia, coprophilia, the last of which was the least offensive ). Would you concede that Pynchon actively channels what most would consider to be the darker side of his own nature in the novel — or, prob more accurate to say that he’s merely drawing from superficial Pynchonian pools of thought, unapologetically, and with a desire to communicate freely under the eyes of our shared societal judgements — this is what we are and you can intuit it too if you’re honest w/ yourself? I read that he studied Jung in prep for it. Anyway, I ended up admiring him for it. I’m half-way though Vineland now but it isn’t nearly as good as Gravity’s Rainbow. I found GR to be ostensibly, utterly pessimistic (I wish there was some interview w. Pynchon where he expounds on this) — but I admire the balls of a writer who, w/o any least shard of hope, discernable irony, or indication that he’s penning a beware-or-else slap to the collective human face, says basically that humanity is doomed to extinction, and likely to take the rest of the planet with it. I also noticed that Pynchon has a unique perspective re time. I have a pretty good layman’s background in physics so maybe this helped me understand it. His conception of time seems to dovetail nicely w. a recently published book I read on the many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics. I wonder if Pynchon was reading Ram Dass (Be Here Now) back when he wrote GR? I’m sorta sleep-deprived at the moment, and losing my train of thought, but i will say that Gravity’s Rainbow is by far the greatest novel I’ve ever read. I transcribed a fairly lengthy excerpt from it and posted it on my blog. one of my favorite passages.

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gazou

pynchon i know it:D

The potential is great. Nice work!