/lit/ - Literature

Lets be honest. Part 4 is, by far, the hardest part to read.

Part two is probably the easiest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAlCbo3kOUc

>>5806214
But that one has the best cover

What about the passage from the Gospel of Thomas Pynchon quotes in Gravity's Rainbow (in the best episode)

Dear mom, I put a couple of people in hell today

Hello, since /lit/ love religious criticism and Nietzsche so much I thought I'd let everyone know that within the book 'Gravity's Rainbow' there is an episode where Pynchon leads off with an excerpt from the Gospel of Thomas, then proceeds to illustrate one of the greatest social criticisms I've ever seen. It is honestly similar, in some ways to a lot of Nietzschean philosophy in how it tackles religion, good/evil, and esoteric group morality.

Has anyone else read this episode? This was bar none, one of the greatest things I've ever read.

Let's be honest: this is a very psychological books. Some of the themes like synchronicities and self-fulfilling perceptions (Operation Black Wing-Swarzkommando) truly do make you contemplate more about the human condition and how the mind works.

Not to mention the couple of episodes at the beginning in The White Visitation that dealt with Pavlovian conditioning and Freudian theories as to Slothrop's 'condition'. It's all a very intensely psychological experience, and then there are the couple of blackspots in the midst of the story (lights out on the Anubis, Morituri's story) where you fill in the blanks with perceptions you think those characters would have, i.e. they would have done this or that or something else... and try to find motives.

I don't know, if you ask me this novel has me understanding and grasping so much more out of
A) social communication
And
B) general thought patterns of other individuals.

Does anyone know why the theme of always missing the target is so prevalent in this novel?

For instance, there is a full episode where Weisman gathers the crew at Peenemünde, including Pökler, and has them launch a rocket, and they are situated on the X. Of course, it doesn't hit the X.

Then, later, in the episode where they commandeer Gerhardt van Göll, the character Närrisch narrows down where the Russians may have taken Göll, and he narrows it down to sites VII and X (X being perhaps a metaphor for a target), but he's not at X, where the Fraulein was waiting to pick them up (but of course never came).

I'm sure there were other instances in the novel when Pynchon alluded to this phenomenon: always missing the target.

Why though? What point is he trying to make with his symbolic rocket?

Favorite episode?

They do. The only reason Pynchon was fine with the deluxe edition version of Gravity's Rainbow was because the cover was from Frank Miller.

This novel + weed = best experience ever.

Favorite part?

I believe this book was also published to disestablish the contemporary theories revolving around WW II that there were clear 'good' guys and 'bad' guys. A contemporary backlash against the propaganda.

I mean lets face it, the section of the book detailing the travels of Tchitcherine and Dzaqyp to see the Kirghiz light is probably the best part of this whole novel: the themes for this section exemplify the themes of other sections, really.

The theme of linguistic progression, and the similarity of this to molecular definitions and creations as well, in a characteristically negative direction, is beautiful. How he ties this in with the effects it has on lesser peoples, like the opium dealer's reality and life, and the effect of language on the middle eastern Qu'ranic religions. Just absolutely wonderful. But overall, the theme of displacement reigns true. The alienation of peoples and allegiances formed through random placement in place, religion, and always based on race, reigns true in this section as well.

I can't think of a more artistic novel, can you?

Post what you're reading/analyzing

Reading:
-Gravity's Rainbow
-Qu'ran

Analyzing:
-The Wealth of Nations

'Is God really Jewish?'

Best line ever?

So the only difference between this and the vintage edition is one sentence?

>>5594730
If you like dystopian books and you fear Brave New World is too hard, you could give Gravity's Rainbow a try. It takes place during world war two, so the setting is more relatable and there is a more humor so you can tie yourself to the story.

It's really good and accessible to everyone.

>>5481167
Me too