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/lit/ - Literature

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14576960 No.14576960 [Reply] [Original]

What do I need to read before getting into V by Pynchon?

>> No.14576965

>>14576960
Nothing, just read it.

>> No.14576984

>>14576960
a 19th century Egyptian almanac

>> No.14577003

>>14576984
in addendum to this, you will also require a fairly complete understanding of colonial british maritime law, i thought i could get by with only mostly understanding it and that's what tripped me up

>> No.14577273

>>14576960
my diary desu I typed the japanese word desu

>> No.14577393

>>14577003
You don't need to understand any of that shit.

>> No.14577400

absolutely nothing retard

>> No.14577427

just have wikipedia open while y ou read so you can look up some of the references

>> No.14577469

>>14576960
That book on how to read a book. Don't ask me what to read before THAT. Still trying to figure it out.

>> No.14577509

>>14577273
my diary daze

>> No.14577846

the whole point of pynchon is to be overwhelmed by all the references and then immersed by them as an extension of dialect. does it matter what every last acronym or piece of naval shorthand means? it produces the effect of characters in a world confident of itself and pynchon reproduces this across all his characters' demographics. it's an inaccessbility that becomes a kind of literary 'realism'.

nobody who actual knows about turn of the century egyptian politics is going to be wowwed by the alexandria chapter. he cobbed the details from travel guides and history books. pynchon doesn't just somehow know everything there is to know about everything. the erudition is part of the confidence trick, a stencillian impersonation.

none of this is to discourage the looking things up either. my first through with pynchon's books i was researching and annotating like a biblical scholar. it's fun, and references here and there are clever. but the novel does not need to be unpacked to be understood. the knowing that each page is another rabbit hole is enough to give a simple read a different charge

>> No.14577853

>>14576960
Nothing. Read it, then look up anything that interests you or you don't understand. Then at some point read it again

>> No.14578110

Just read the fucking book you idiot, you won't regret it. I didn't want it to end.

>> No.14578442

>>14576960
Probably should read the rest of his work first

>> No.14579091

>>14578442
Read all of the books made after his first one?

>> No.14579204

>>14579091
not that anon but he did do another book of short stories. forgot what it was called, something Learner

>> No.14579218

>>14576960
every baedeker you can get your hands on

>> No.14579237

>>14577393
don't steer this anon wrong while his possessing only a partial understanding of maritime traditions is already set to do for him in his attempt to read Thomas Pynchon's V! have you no sympathy for the fellow reader?

>> No.14579243

>>14576960
Sometimes not understanding something makes it more enjoyable

>> No.14579299

>>14579243
like doing your taxes

>> No.14579514

>>14579091
yes. V isn't really worth the hassle of making it your first, breeze through it when you're more familiar with his work and spare yourself the time

>> No.14579520

>>14579514
Start with gravity's rainbow?

>> No.14579530

>>14576960
start with all of Roosh V and you will know when it is time to move to Pynchon's V.

>> No.14579543

>>14579520
I started with AtD, though just make sure you read TCoL49 BEFORE GR.

>> No.14579589

>>14579091
>>14579514
I almost want to agree with the anon discouraging you from reading V. before any other Pynch because I actually read Lot49 and GR before it, but I actually admire and enjoy reading V. more than the other two because it was his first book and he knew damn well what he was doing while he was writing it. Don't let his intro to Slow Learner and those personal letters on yellow paper fool you, Tom at 25 knew what he was in for.

>> No.14579605

>>14577846
good post

>> No.14579848

>>14576960
It's V. not V

>> No.14579853

JUST READ THE FUCKING BOOK

>> No.14579872

>>14579848
So "Fifth" when spoken?

>> No.14579908

>>14579872
No, it's "V" when spoken but you need to add the dot after V when writing the title.
the dot is half the title.
Actually there's a comment by Pynchon I remember reading in which he complained how most covers of V. forget to add the . after V and he's like "Damn it, that's half the title."

>> No.14579931

>>14579872
Nevertheless it was a small joke anon, I don't think there's anything you should read before V. except maybe his short story Under the Rose, which story, albeit a little bit changed, is one of the first chapters in V. (the one where Stencil does the impersonations)

>> No.14579956

>>14579908
Oh gee!
I dropped the Vee.
Hey look!
I dropped the dot.
Hey drop the book,
you idiot!

>> No.14579959

>>14576960
It's about Isis.

>> No.14580025

Pynchon's a hack

>> No.14580191

>>14580025
How so?

>> No.14580580

>>14576960
just use the wiki companion online. i guess its not necessary but really helpful and extremely entertaining

>> No.14581169

I'm reading Bleeding Edge and loving it. V was too hard. Yes I'm brainlet.

>> No.14581571

>>14580025
wrong

>> No.14581635
File: 3.00 MB, 498x451, tenor.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
14581635

>>14581571

>> No.14582093
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14582093

>>14579959

>> No.14582200

>>14577469
meta-kek'd

>> No.14582879

>>14577846
Very much agree with this. And on the odd chance that you do catch one of Pynchon's references it feels very special, like "hey! I actually get that one!"

>> No.14583320

The Education of Henry Adams and The Golden Bough are a couple of quite big sources for the book, but not necessary to read before reading V.