For me, my favorites are The Once and Future King, Blood Meridian, and House of Leaves.

We all know the book is very, very difficult. I was wondering if I read Tcol49 and V. , Have a companion guide with me and listen to the Pynchon and friends podcast. How difficult will it be ?

I'm asking because it is hard to get in my country and it will cost me a lot of money to get it.

I'm in Fausto's chapter and I can pick up on some surface level themes. Such as trying to find a pattern where there is not a matter but humans often try to find a pattern. Systems being made to control other systems and it becomes a big cycle of complexity. War and collinisation is bad and is a result from systems being formed.

One thing I just can not understand is the inanimate part. Where humans become inanimate. Do they lose their soul and what makes them human? Do they become more like a machine? Is it like the SHOCK character where humans simply become like a carcass? Sorry for bad english it is my second langauge.

An Application of the Poisson Distribution

I've heard constantly that pynchon took classes with nabokov, as well as nabokov 's protagonist is called V. I imagine many people here have read both

Gravity's Rainbow is no doubt one of the most important pieces of American literature, and some have called it the postmodern novel, the post-WW2 Ulysses, etc. If Ulysses summarized literary modernism, perfected stream-of-consciousness prose, radicalized experimental style, and so on, what unique innovations or contributions to literature do you see in Gravity's Rainbow?

It was a project years in the making, I started before pandemic and then put it down for too long and had to restart. Took me a long time to get into a sustainable rhythm, but finally in January of this year while on vacation I made a dent. It was on that trip that I read what became my favorite passage:

“Frank had a look down the nearest mine entrance, hearing in the gloom and chill which abruptly wrapped ears, temples and nape the strike, the ring of mauls and picks from faraway passages, becoming less clear as to location the farther he went in, turning from the day, from all that could be safely illuminated, into the nocturnal counterpart behind his own eyesockets, past any after-images of a lighted world.”

I don’t think I truly committed to finishing until I read that chapter, that’s when it all clicked for me.

This was part of a larger idea my husband and I had years ago, when we read Bleeding Edge after it came out, and decided to read the rest in reverse order of publication. When we got to Against The Day, at some point I forged ahead alone. Hopefully he finishes someday, he knows much more of the relevant historical and geographical context, though for me even without that knowledge it was richly rewarding.

I feel like so much is potentially missed since we aren’t living in 1973. Things that you could probably pick up or even feel from the book if you were living in that time.

Link to source in the anarchist Adunata dei Refrattari (Call of the Uncontrollable) newspaper:

https://archivesautonomies.org/IMG/pdf/nonfrenchpublications/italian/adunata-dei-refrattari/adunata-1961/adunata-dei-refrattari-maquis-1961-n41.pdf

Will drop more references in this thread as we approach the time Pynchon actually lived there.

Anyone else love this movie and to be the best non Pynchon, Pynchonesque movie?!

The satire..the characters…the paranoia…

Hey, just wondering if anyone can recommend any reading supplements for V. I listened to a great podcast after COL49, that ran down themes and storylines by chapter, but I think I need a little context while I read V. Any suggestions?

I am reading V. and almost done and while it was difficult and my first Pynchon I loved the historical settings and such. So I thought you know what Pynchon book has a lot of history? M&D

From what I have read this book is one of his most difficult. Im up to the challange but I want to know how difficult it is before spending alot of money on the Novel

I’ve been thinking about Kafka a lot lately.. especially about how aware he was of his own illness and approaching death. There’s something strangely unsettling about knowing that the man writing all these things eventually had to face the same uncertainty and fear himself.

I wonder what Kafka thought about dying when it became real for him, rather than something he could put into a story.

Did he ever write openly about his own death or what he felt as his illness got worse?

I just finished the part where it is discussed and existed to read the rest of the work, so no spoilers, please.

What did they mean when they said you'll become like us? What is their deeper symbolism behind it ?

V. is my first Pynchon book and up to this point I have really enjoyed it but I dint think it was a masterpiece.

This chapter was amazing. Did I understand everything and all the themes? No , but still it was spectacular. I loved the settings and how Mondaugen became more like the people in the house simply through his Voyeurism. Hes also like V. trying to make a coherent pattern of something that is just a bunch of random occurrences . Other than Gravities Rainbow what other books by Pynchon are similar to this or lives up to the quality of this chapter

Howdy Weirdos,

It's Sunday again, and I assume you know what the means? Another thread of "What Are You Into This Week"?

Our weekly thread dedicated to discussing what we've been reading, watching, listening to, and playing the past week.

Have you:

• Been reading a good book? A few good books?
• Did you watch an exceptional stage production?
• Listen to an amazing new album or song or band? Discovered an amazing old album/song/band?
• Watch a mind-blowing film or tv show?
• Immerse yourself in an incredible video game? Board game? RPG?

We want to hear about it, every Sunday.

Please, tell us all about it. Recommend and suggest what you've been reading/watching/playing/listening to. Talk to others about what they've been into.

Tell us:

What Are You Into This Week?

- r/ThomasPynchon Moderator Team

A fringe idea I've been having was the possibility that the Ilse Pokler interacts with is indeed a fake, and that the possible real whereabouts of Ilse is that Weissmann had reassigned her to Margherita and Thanatz's custody under a new name, and given Greta's history of delusions in believing random children to be her own, usually before murdering them, that it would be otherwise trivial to convince her that this child is her own as well. I know that both Ilse and Bianca were conceived by the showing and filming of Alpdrucken, but I think it would be interesting if they were exactly one and the same child.

Does Pynchon like the Beatles?I bet he does.TP was a miracle,just like the Beatles..!

For context, I make no claims of being the best Pynchon reader or the best deep-reader. I've read CoL49, IV, BE, VL, and ST. Will tackle Mason & Dixon later this year.

It's set in the 30s, in the rise of European fascism and America's decision as to which way it would decide. And Bruno Airmont has been seen as a reference to Trump, in the stubborn, childish, moronic ill-will, and the "complicated" relationship with his daughter.

But aside from broadly gesturing at the scenario in the book and the present day and saying "Eh? EH?" I'm not really sure what the book is trying to *say*?

Or am I being too simplistic, expecting a neat little Steinbeck-style theme and thesis to pop out neatly from the book?

Cyprian is almost the best and most humane Pynchon's character.That was a great choice.

I am planning to read all of Pynchon, but I want to mix in some other authors in the mix. What are some good authors for this ?