« Jean Baudrillard has passed away at 77 | Main | Unions really really don't matter that much these days... »
How to read Thomas Pynchon
Bookslut will tell you "not," but you would be missing something special. Most generally, revel in the language, the fun, and the set pieces. Don't look for deeper meanings, in my view there ain't none, and for the better. My specific tips:
1. V: Published when Pynchon was 24. Read it once, straight through, without trying to make sense of it. Then read it again. Companion to V. is a useful supplement.
2. The Crying of Lot 49. Short, fun, and somewhat scrutable. It is a common introduction to Pynchon, although Pynchon himself dismisses its importance.
3. Gravity's Rainbow: The masterpiece. It doesn't matter if you don't finish it, the story falls apart in any case. Even reading the first fifty pages yields a high return.
4. Vineland: This short novel came after a 17-year hiatus. It has its defenders, but I find it unreadable and unpleasant.
5. Mason & Dixon: I love the 18th century, so you might think I could get into this one. Pam Regis tells me it has to be read aloud.
6. Against the Day: The new 1200-page monstrosity. How to read it? Lean it against your sofa, and wait until your wife starts complaining about it, thereby prompting you to pick it up and get it out of the way...
The bottom line: Pynchon is about the highest-IQ author out there, a mixed blessing. Start with Gravity's Rainbow, or V, and hope for the best.
#15 in a series of 50.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on March 8, 2007 at 06:28 AM in Books | Permalink
Comments
Man alive, you read alot. By the way, I really enjoy the cultural signposts in among the economics.
Posted by: Tom at Mar 8, 2007 8:47:51 AM
I started Gravity's Rainbow when I was on vacation in Belize. My god did my mind hurt trying to get through that. I got through around 200 pages before the vacation was over but I don't have the guts to pick it up again, maybe when I retire and can devote a year or two to it. I'd say David Foster Wallace's 'Infinite Jest' is an excellent book for somebody looking to be blown away by an amazing writer.
Posted by: Alex Ambroz at Mar 8, 2007 9:27:55 AM
I've never delved in Pynchon, though I've heard plenty about him. Thanks for the starting point.
Posted by: John Wesley at Mar 8, 2007 11:21:15 AM
"...Read it once, straight through, without trying to make sense of it..."
"...somewhat scrutable..."
"...the story falls apart..."
"...unreadable and unpleasant..."
"...1200-page monstrosity..."
Pynchon's the literary equivalent of Jackson Pollock. Many people think they should like his work, but few actually enjoy reading the impenetrable mess of words he's splatters against the page.
Posted by: Chris Rasch at Mar 8, 2007 11:32:06 AM
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.
Posted by: DaveL at Mar 8, 2007 11:50:31 AM
I "read" Gravity's Rainbow way back when. My American Studies prof called in one of the two most important pieces of American literature in the 20th century (behind Invisible Man) because of its commentary on Farben and such. I slogged through a few hundred pages, kept getting lost and going back to reread stuff, and by the time I finished a few months had elapsed.
So I went back to the prof and told him about it and we had some great fun "discussing" certain passages -- mostly him pointing out some great banana metaphors that I probably missed. And, it turns out, the guy *wrote a reader's guide* to Gravity's Rainbow and didn't bother to tell me.
In conclusion, no more Pynchon for me -- I already have a full-time job.
Huck Finn, now there's a novel!
Posted by: david at Mar 8, 2007 11:50:38 AM
The heck of it is, Pynchon can be a remarkably beautiful writer. There are stunning passages in GR. Read for the sound and the fun and the ideas, not for the plot, is the only way to go about it.
Posted by: Anderson at Mar 8, 2007 11:59:04 AM
Thanks for the advice, professor! I am mid-way through Gravity's Rainbow now, and I found the first section the most difficult to enjoy. It's my New Year's resolution to finish it in order to keep up with my English major friends. :)
Posted by: sm at Mar 8, 2007 12:38:50 PM
"Gravity's rainbow" gets easier after the first 50-100 pages or so.
Posted by: joeo at Mar 8, 2007 12:50:56 PM
Just finished Against the Day a couple weeks ago (Pynchon fan), and while I thought about quitting around the 300 page mark, glad I made it through, the last two or three hundred pages really made it worthwhile for me. Makes we wonder if I should give Mason Dixon another go.
Posted by: anon at Mar 8, 2007 12:52:13 PM
I've read most of Pynchon's works and actuallyl started with Gravity's Rainbow. A salesperson at a bookstore recommended it saying that I would "space out about the same time the book does." I've always thought that summed GR up quite well. I agree wiht you about Vineland, weaker than his other books although I thought Mason Dixon was a blast. And I have Against the Day waiting for Spring Break to start.
Posted by: Mark Rippy at Mar 8, 2007 2:13:33 PM
Completely agree. Am in the midst of Against the Day now. I liken it to a quaint summer stroll in the late afternoon or early evening, when the sun is a little lower and the air a little cooler. I have always felt that I was experiencing Pynchon, rather than reading him. Not sure if that makes sense to others?
Posted by: justin at Mar 8, 2007 6:07:02 PM
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.
Posted by: Patrick R. Sullivan at Mar 8, 2007 6:22:54 PM
I thought Against the Day was quite good, and very readable, though the ending was weak.
Agree completely that Pynchon is best for the experience of reading Pynchon, rather than any deep insight or, say, actual storytelling.
I always pair him with Eco, though they're not actually much alike. Perhaps it's the conspiracy-ish similarities between Foucault's Pendulum and Gravity's Rainbow (and the similar names!). Eco, however, tells, when he wishes to, coherent stories with comprehensible plots.
Posted by: Sigivald at Mar 8, 2007 7:23:10 PM
I didn't care much for Vineland when I first read it, and then read a review by Edward Mendelson in The New Republic which I very much recommend, although I'm afraid I haven't been able to find it on the interwebs. I have an old photocopy somewhere. Anyhoo, Mendelson suggests that Vineland consistently plays against the reader's expectations, which maybe be why so many people poorly to it.
My favorite sentence in the English language is in it, on page 267 (if I recall correctly); it begins, "So the bad Ninjamobile . . . ."
Posted by: Tyrone Slothrop at Mar 8, 2007 9:39:52 PM
i think that a reading of Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle indicates his IQ and intellect is even higher than Pynchon's.
Posted by: anonymous at Mar 8, 2007 10:54:36 PM
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.
Posted by: Michael Blowhard at Mar 9, 2007 3:29:19 AM
I've only read the Pynchon heavyweights, and enjoyed ATD most, followed by GR. MD definitely has its slow streaks, but it's still great. I didn't like Vineland much, probably for the reason offered by Tyrone above - I should really try it again.
One of the most amazing things about Pynchon is that so many of his references are entry points to huge realms of knowledge - I learned a lot about the history of mathematics just from trying to follow some of the remarks in ATD, for example, or about astronomy and 18th politics from MD (I found the Pynchon Wiki at pynchonwiki.com really helpful in this process, by the way).
I guess that Pynchon is a different genre of literature, really - though he writes beautiful prose, his novels don't really set out to have the classical elements (ie a plot and an ending), but are much more documentary in nature. This may be part of the reason that people without a technical/scientific background who do not care about the wealth of references may be put off.
About the Neal Stephenson comment: I discovered Pynchon because my Cryptonomicon had a blurb on the cover that said "The Gravity's Rainbow of the Information Age!", and I like his work well enough, but Pynchon is just a much better writer. Also, compare Cryptonomicon & GR and Baroque Cycle & MD - I find the number of similarities creepy. I've taken to calling Stephenson Pynchon's exegete to the geeks.
Posted by: Thomas Themel at Mar 9, 2007 3:50:49 AM
Pynchon is about the highest-IQ author
Any evidence for this? Surely Feynmann was smarter? May be Pynchon is the highest IQ fiction write, but would anyone know?
Posted by: Stuart at Mar 9, 2007 5:34:47 AM
Jeez, I truly loved "Against the day".
Pynchon desn't exactly dismiss the importance of "Lot 49," he just backhanded it relative to "Entropy" in the "Slow Learner" intro --- but the promptly after that you get the pretty "Lot 49"-ish "Vineland."
Posted by: Sanjay at Mar 9, 2007 3:03:01 PM
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.
Posted by: Tyrone Slothrop at Mar 9, 2007 8:13:07 PM
My wife gave me ATD for Christmas, but I have not yet had time to get into it yet.
Completely agree on Vineland with Tyler, although it has some truly spectacular
passages. OTOH, I put MD as second after GR. I liked it so much I even wrote
a review essay on it that was published in an odd outlet. Looking forward to ATD.
Posted by: Barkley Rosser at Mar 10, 2007 1:23:20 PM
My own thought on Pynchon are here: http://stonecity.blogspot.com/2007/03/well-fish-there.html
I join the Vineland-bashers, though it is better than Lot 49.
It's hard to choose Pynchon's "best" novel: I could make a strong case for V., Gravity's Rainbow or Mason and Dixon.
Posted by: sammler at Mar 15, 2007 11:48:15 AM
I Agree completely that Pynchon is best for the experience of reading Pynchon, rather than any deep insight or, say, actual storytelling.
Posted by: tramadol at Mar 17, 2007 12:21:05 PM
Tramadol
Buy Soma
Buy Tramadol
Butalbital
Posted by: aaa at Mar 17, 2007 12:30:51 PM
