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/lit/ - Literature

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2541651 No.2541651 [Reply] [Original]

My punishment has nearly been meted out. I have nearly done my time. It's all nearly over.

After 2 and a half months, I have very nearly finished the wretched book (there's no point in softening words, dear friends), at page 720 of 770 pages. I shall read the last 50 pages tomorrow morning, then crawl into a hidey hole and kill myself. This books is SO bad, I don't even know what to say. I think it may be my single lease favourite Pynchon books. Why couldn't it have been enough Against The Day, a really long historical story?

Explain to me with hand puppets why this book is one of the ebst of the 1990s.

>> No.2541660

If you think Against the Day is simply a historical novel then you have missed an important element of the novel:

pastiche

>> No.2541658

I'm sorry Sunhawk you didn't enjoy Mason & Dixon, the title of which you forgot to put into your OP. It's one of my favourites because it is so encyclopedic with its historical fiction angle.

>> No.2541664

>>2541660

Everyone one of the people here knows I've been reading it for ages, so.

>>2541658

I noticed. It was fun, but it was definitely a postmodern historical novel. I mean, it took in a lot of turn of the 20th century events. And Nicola Tesla is cool.

>> No.2541674
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2541674

>>2541664
>Everyone one of the people here knows I've been reading it for ages, so.

pic related

>> No.2541686

>>2541674

Calm down.

>> No.2541690
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2541690

>>2541664
>postmodern historical novel

I think you mean "Historiographic metafiction"

>> No.2541705

>>2541690

Tomatoes Tomahtoes, m8.

>> No.2541708

stop reading shit that you dont understand you self-loadhing masochist...i recommend something lighter like... the giving tree...really powerful stuff suncawk

>> No.2541712

>>2541690

It's hard to imagine why people think this board is pretentious.

>> No.2541721

>>2541712
Without really knowing anything about how Pynchon writes, like the technical details of genre or narrative, don't you feel like you're missing out on the total experience? Especially with Gravity's Rainbow. It's a challenging read, and you lack the vocabulary to engage with the text. To put it crudely, don't you think you're not getting your money's worth out of the experience when you're missing most of it?

>> No.2541724

The bad thing is, I'm in town on Monday, and I'm already thinking about getting Inherent Vice. The prose is modern, it's not really long, it looks...good. Oh God.

>> No.2541726

>>2541664
>Everyone one of the people here knows I've been reading it for ages, so.

Who the hell are you?

>> No.2541727

>>2541721

How can you become smarter without pushing yourself? And anyway, there are few authors I've read that I didn't generally understand. Pynchon and Llosa are the only authors that fritz out my brain.

>> No.2541730

>>2541724
Inherent Vice is a pretty good detective pastiche, but it's kind of like the law of diminishing returns after awhile - crazy surf lyrics and obtuse plot twists become tedious when sustained so long

>> No.2541738

>>2541727
> I didn't generally understand

That's my point. After being on this board long enough to discuss with you, I've come to understand that your engagement with texts is on the most superficial of levels. You're a child being entertained by something shiny. While this isn't inherently negative (look at Capsguy), you seem to think you can engage with the texts. The reality is, however, that you are simply reading for pleasure but claiming otherwise.

>> No.2541756

Are you talking about gravity´s rainbow?

I wouldn´t call it bad, just challenging to read

>> No.2541774

>>2541756
If you read the thread, or are like most of us and constantly keep tabs on everything Sunhawk reads you'd know he's reading Mason & Dixon

>> No.2541786

I don't get why there are so many complaints about his work considering his writing is so over the top and cartoonish. I have yet to complete a novel because I'm too busy with closing out the semester but from the skimming I've done his writing style is quite amusing. Now Wallace's stuff seems more like a frustrating mindfuck.

If you don't like Pynchon, just go read that stupid S&M Twilight fanfic with the tie on the cover.