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/lit/ - Literature

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12909289 No.12909289 [Reply] [Original]

>tfw too much of a brainlet to understand Thomas Pynchon
I’m about 300 pages through V. and I have barely any clue what he’s talking about half the time. I’m able to understand smaller scenes in isolation, but I have no clue what he’s getting at with all of the tangents, especially with pretty much anything related to Stencil. I can’t tell what’s important or relevant or how almost anything connects to anything else. Is this how it’s supposed to make you feel?

>> No.12909374
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12909374

>>12909289
>Is this how it’s supposed to make you feel?
Yes. V is converging and diverging points of meaning, similar to benny and stencil themselves and centering of course on the elusive feminine V characters. Wait until you realize gravity's rainbow is literally about the "V2". Absolut madlad, tommy was.

>> No.12909380

>>12909374
>Was

>> No.12909471

V. is in some ways his most difficult book. Everybody talks about Gravity's Rainbow because it's longer and more famous, but V. is just as difficult to understand on a sentence-by-sentence level IMO. The fun parts go down smoother than in GR, that'll I'll admit, but the challenging parts can be even more confounding.

I suggest you read Slow Learner first in order to understand his writing process and what exactly he's trying to do with V., because how he wrote it is just as important as the content. This stuff is not intuitive to a first time Pynchon reader, I wouldn't think. It wasn't for me.

Also I'd like to stress that Pynchon is not a meme. If you do the work the reward will be worth it, I promise you. He is a sincerely difficult writer but once you settle into the flow of things it will no longer be "work" (which is necessary to appreciate great art) but a higher level of pleasure and entertainment. Be honest with yourself when you don't understand something and don't be afraid to reread sections, paragraphs, whatever

This is a good article on the experience of reading it
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/v-at-l-pynchons-first-novel-turns-fifty

>> No.12909492

>>12909380
Please, anon. We both know that the next Pynchon book won't be released until the day he dies and will turn the literary world on its head.

>> No.12909517

>>12909492
There's actually a collection of letters that he wrote to his editor (?) From the gravitys rainbow days which hes expressly forbidden to be released until he dies, so looking forward to that. Idk though even though i just started reading his ouevre, i have a weird feeling im gonna miss this autist hippie

>> No.12909630
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12909630

>>12909289
You can only reread a book as Nabakov said. The great thing about Pynchon is that in understanding this he made the prose good enough to stand on it's own, which is arguably his weakest in V.. But it's still a well written book, at least.

>> No.12910445

>>12909289
> I can’t tell what’s important or relevant or how almost anything connects to anything else.

That's it!

>> No.12910480

>>12909289

I am just beginning V and wondering the same.

>> No.12910503

>>12909630

>Just started reading V.
>Blown away by the writing
>"Arguably his weakest in V."

If it only gets better from here I'm in for some good shit, brother. I plan on reading all his books this summer.

I am reading V. then GR. What Pynchon should I read after that?

>> No.12910510

>>12910503
Release order always

>> No.12910514

>>12910503
Not that anon but yes it gets better through his books. I personally think Maxon and Dixon is the peak, or maybe Against the Day, but in general if you like what you're reading it's only up from there.

>> No.12910597

>>12910510
*barring Slow Learner. You should definitely read Lot 49 before GR at least.

>> No.12910606

>>12910503
col49 is his weakest

>> No.12910609

>>12909374
should i read V before gravity's rainbow?

>> No.12910619

>>12910609
No you should force yourself to read all of gravity's rainbow, which in your case will be about 70 pages, even though the last book you read was 1984 six years ago and then come back here and bitch about it

>> No.12910624

>>12909374
Gravity’s Rainbow is about sex. The V-2 and it’s terminus was just an analogy for the orgasm

>> No.12910630

>>12910624
You're gay right?

>> No.12910646

>>12909374
is the quote on the pic from V?

>> No.12910712

>>12910619
i read about a book a week faggot

>> No.12910725

>>12910630
Only slightly

>> No.12911325

>>12910503
against the day, it reads easier than his earlier stuff

>> No.12912499

>>12910725
>nailed it
lmao imagine being such a one dimensional piece of shit. Please die of GRIDs

>> No.12913121

>>12909517

Staying true to form, Tommy Pynchon will be dead for ten years before his estate announces his passing. He could be dead right now.

>> No.12913314

>>12909289
>Is this how I feel?

>> No.12914067

>>12913121
Idk man recent that pic of the super old grey afro guy in suspenders sure does look like him