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/lit/ - Literature

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13351553 No.13351553 [Reply] [Original]

What's the best chapter, and why is it V. In Love?

>> No.13353337

Yes

>> No.13354522

>>13351553
mondaugens story you plebe

>> No.13354552

>>13351553
Chapter 4, In which Esther gets a nose job

>> No.13354561

I read this so long ago I can't even remember individual chapters

>> No.13354766

>>13351553
Remind me of some chapters, OP. I read this book a long time ago

I remember one where some kids discover V in a bombed out church and she has a diamond or some gem in her belly button
I loved that one.

>> No.13355056

I love the entire book to bits, but Mondaugen's Story is so hauntingly beautiful that it's stuck with me since my first read.

>>13354522
Based.

>>13354552
Was that the one that told the Evan Godolphin story? If so, also based.

>>13354766
I think that's Confessions of Fausto Majistral? Or maybe it was after, not sure. They find V. in Malta, right?

>> No.13355073

>>13354766
>spoiler
That's the Confessions of Fausto Maijstral chapter, where Fausto tells his story by going through his previous writings.

And off the top of my head, there's Mondaugen's Story, which takes place partly during the herero uprising in 1922 during Foppl's seige party where he wishes to relive the days of 1904 when he was involved in the herero genocide, part of the chapter being a recollection of 1904.

Another memorable one is the chapter where Benny Profane is hunting gators in the sewer, and recalls the story of Father Fairing and the rats.

and V. in love tells the story of V.'s strange love tryst with the young girl melanie. It also has my favorite passage from the book, where Stencil describes hypothetically, a fully inanimate/mechanical V. topping it off with her having Eigenvalue's special dentures.

>> No.13355086

>>13351553
worst chapter unironically. shitty short story needlessly crammed in at last minute

>> No.13355088

I want to read this but have no experience with Pynchon. Help me put this in a context that will allow me to understand or appreciate it a bit as I read.

>> No.13355110

>My wife (...) is a fucking facist.
kek'd hard

>> No.13355183

>>13355086
Wasn't V. essentially adapted from a short story or two that Pynchon had written before and later published in Slow Learner? I haven't read that yet, but I remember reading somewhere that a story from Slow Learner about spies in Egypt or something is also in V. Where she's at an embassy ball under the name of Victoria or Veronica.

>>13355088
Some people here say that you should jump into V. as your first Pynchon, but I wouldn't recommend that. I had read Lot 49 and Inherent Vice beforehand, but I still had trouble keeping up with V. the first time I read it. I'd say go with Lot 49 at the very least to get a sense of his style and see if it'll work for you, then either go for lighter reading like IV and Bleeding Edge, or go on to V.

As for context, good luck with that. Be prepared to Google shit, consult the Pymchon wikia, whatever. The man has an insane amount of knowledge on a variety of topics, so you shouldn't expect to get all of his references.

>> No.13355281

>>13355088
start with TCOL49 ...

>> No.13356262

>>13355183
yes and no. that short story is in the novel but i wouldn't say it was more fixed onto it than adapted from it.

>> No.13356292
File: 43 KB, 450x728, v-uk-pb-penguin.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13356292

>>13355056
>tfw you realize Evan got deformed and it drove his Dad crazy until a bunch future Nazi rocket freaks pulled a Pudding on him

>> No.13356334

>>13351553
It's actually Chapter 36 (The Quarter-Deck) in Moby-Dick

>> No.13356351

>>13356334
DEATH TO MOBY DICK! GOD HUNT US ALL.......

>> No.13356441

>>13356292
Please tell me that's a real cover. I love it and hate it.

>> No.13356470

>>13356441
It is. You can find all the covers to all books on the Pynchon website.

>> No.13357084

>>13355183
Mason & Dixon is the only and best place to start

>> No.13357120

I read this five years ago and don't really remember the plot that well. However I do remember finding it even more confusing than GR, which I took more time with

>> No.13357165
File: 99 KB, 625x480, Botticelli-Birth-of-Venus-detail.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13357165

>>13351553
For me, it's a tie between She Hangs on the Western Wall and Mondaugen's Story. Also that part where a man wearing a rug sings a love song about Wittgenstein.

>> No.13357940

>>13356292
Benny was never looking for V., Stencil never had a shotgun, and noone ever bagged three gators in one night.