/lit/ - Literature

>>4738745
Seconding.

i didn't like that book

it's just too weird man

>>/lit/thread/S667543#p667573

You're welcome

>>4738781
hilarious (haha) though
>May I come in? Can we talk?
>I'm sure you'd all like that.
>I'm unarmed. You can frisk me.
>While you karate-chop me in the spine, no thank you.

>>4738821
Shit. That's surprisingly deflating upon rereading.

>>4738781
Oh come on, it was so cool and ironic and edgy. You have to remember this is the 60's, man

>Wishing you could cry your green bubble shades full of tears and see the world that way forever
>This huge intimidating city is like a circuit-board, unknown, deadly in energy, abundant in communication
>Muh silly sex scene
>Muh diver-suit and tarp marx brothers routine
>Muh "coincidental" cult connection

I mean come on. The MacGuffin in this book is so good. WAY fucking better than say, Pulp Fiction's briefcase.

>Which I WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED to see citing Pynchon as an influence

It's an anti-puzzle book. Pynchon sets up a bunch of false leads and weird atmospheres to make his readers frustrated if they look for hidden meanings. Which is exactly what happens to Oedipa. She sees layers upon layers of new conspiracy everywhere she looks. It leads her to the brink of a revelation that never comes.

>>4738821
>>>/lit/thread/S667543#p667573

Twain's defense of the Bacon theory was pretty convincing. Modern scholarship rules it out, but he makes it sound solid.

>>4738919
Yeah the book isn't really that complicated. It just presents itself as such, but it ultimately is what it is and goes nowhere. I kind of liken this to jam music which grew from the same era. These longs songs sharing a central groove and theme but ultimately it's just a good, pointless song that feeds on itself.

>>4738908
>edgy
You may remember a certain mass-shooting in 1966 carried out by ex-marine Charles Whitman who, driven to homicidal mania by a tumor (legume in size, a bean of angry flesh), killed his wife and mother one languid Texas morning. Then proceeded to infiltrate the University of Texas at Austin's main building, climbed to the observation deck, and fired with measurable precision into the quad, killing, in toto, 16 people.

This, I believe, was parodied (or alluded to, and used as a vehicle for parody) by Pynchon in The Crying of Lot 49. This being where Oedipa returns home on her way back from Berkeley and goes to Hilarius's office, where he's shooting out his office window, insane.

>>4738961
And he doesn't perceive her as a threat because she's also insane

>>4738961
I have to say, I did not catch this particular allusion. I'd had no knowledge of the event, though. In any case alluding to real events doesn't make Pynchon not "edgy". I mean, I fucking hate that term. I never use it in response to other anons, I think it's about as retarded as "umad". But if anyone is edgy, Pynchon is.

>>4738966
But he does at first does he not? He only lets her in once he needs a hostage.

>>4738969
And I mean who knows if Pynchon intended to make that allusion or not (it may not have happened yet when Pynchon first drafted it) but both share a sort of inexplicable atmospheric quality plus the more tangible similarities, not to mention that if Pynchon did indeed write this section after the shooting its impression would be apt to filter into his writing.

>>4738977
And he shoots at her, although perhaps he couldn't recognize her at that distance.

Where do I start with Pynchon /lit/?

I'm fairly new to literature. Would his works be too dense or..? I'd say my vocabulary is average.

>>4739000
Probably Inherent Vice or The Crying of Lot 40. You could just jump right in with his first novel V. but it might not be your groove.

>>4738966
>>4738977
>>4738988
>>4738999
>>4739000
Lot 49, Inherent Vice or V. (V. will better assimilate you with Pynchon c. Gravity's Rainbow, that is, harder.)

>>4739000
V. Start with V.

>>4739005
I'm pretty excited for my copies of Slow Learner and Gravity's Rainbow to come in at the local book shop this weekend, but I still have to finish Mason & Dixon...

I also am probably ordering White Noise by Delillo and JR by Gaddis.

WHAT DO I DO WHEN I RUN OUT OF POMO /lit/?!?!?!

>>4739004
>>4739005
>>4739008
Thanks. I'll probably start with TCoL49 as it's short, but I might also get V. for the lengthy challenge. Both sound interesting.

>>4739010
Have you read Gass or Barth or Coover or these dubs?

>>4739033
No, but those are some sweet-ass digits and I thank you for these surnames.

>>4738966
>>4738977
>>4738988
>>4738999
>>4739000
>>4739033
Have we hit a rich vein of doubling didgeridoos?

>>4739019
Mason & Dixon was my fave. Read it three times.

>>4739056
what the fuck happened to supermegacomics.com

>>4738969
>if anyone is edgy, Pynchon is
Yeah... no.

>>4738745
>TCoL49 is a puzzle book akin to Pale Fire
More books of that kind? Books which have a pretty straightforward narrative but a whole experience and plot underneath or some kind of meta plot? Really like to work and wrestle with my books for meaning

inb4 House of Leaves which fits that category but that one is popular enough

>>4738745
>a puzzle book akin to Pale Fire
Wait what? I remember Pale Fire fondly but there was no real riddle in it? Other than whether the narrator is the fugitive king or whether he is completely delusional. What are you referring to?

>>4739194

>whether the narrator is the fugitive king or whether he is completely delusional

Which was resolved in the end. As far as I recall, Kinbote subtly alludes in the very last passages of the novel that he might stage a play based on his experience which would feature a man who believes himself to be a king.

>>4739530
>>4739194
As i remember it you get the Impression that he is indeed the fugitive but tagen again what about the Clown mjeweks

>>4739146
I don't know. Johnny seems almost childlike in his demeanor. I hope he's OK.

>>4739985

>>4739170
Confirmed for not having read Mason & Dixon or Gravity's Rainbow

>>4739146
I have no idea but this is the best piece of pomo artistry of the 21st century, hands down.