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/lit/ - Literature

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5728533 No.5728533 [Reply] [Original]

So I started reading Pynchon with V. But couldn't really follow it at all, so I dropped it with around 100 pages left of it.

For some reason I wasn't put off reading one of his more recent books classified as 'pynchon-lite', Inherent Vice, and I'm loving it. It might be because I understand the references immediately and don't have to keep a dictionary on hand for every second word but I'm really enjoying it.

I'm wondering if anyone under the age of twenty who reads as a hobby/pasttime has been able to enjoy vintage Pynchon? It just seems like I needed to have grown up in the time it was written to truly grasp what he's trying to say.

Also, would I be likely to enjoy mason and Dixon, or is my not enjoying V. A sign that I won't?

>> No.5728709

>>5728533
Have you looked at this, OP?
http://pynchonwiki.com/
It gives you a page by page explanation of the references and terms.

I've never read Mason & Dixon so I couldn't really tell you. However, once you're done with IV you could try Against the Day. It's quite accessible and easier to read compared to Pynchon's other works. The only put-off is that it's about 1,000 pages long.
You should try V again using the wiki -- see if it's of any help.

>> No.5728719

As always Nintendo is the best.

>> No.5728750

Are you new to reading? Don't start with Pynchon until you've read like a dozen other books to break you in

>> No.5728799

>>5728533
I read CoL49 and GR at 17 and enjoyed both a lot.

However, I feel I should reread Gravity's Rainbow. I blazed through it the first time, and I think I could get a lot of new stuff and details out of it on a second, slower read.

Mason and Dixon is supposedly Pynchon's most difficult novel, even more so than GR. I know older people (60+) that absolutely love literature and have been into it for decades that jumped into M&D without reading any other Pynchon first and they couldn't handle it.

Just read The Crying of Lot 49. Then read it again.

Also, comparing Pynchon novels to video game consoles pisses me off more than it should.

>> No.5728826

>>5728799
The main reason people find M&D "difficult" is because the prose is Olde English. Though, once you get acclimated to it, it's quite understandable.

>> No.5728906

>>5728799
>Mason and Dixon is supposedly Pynchon's most difficult novel, even more so than GR.
Disagree. I found it incomparably easier to read than GR. The language stylization is in a way rather superficial and really easy to get into.

>> No.5729182

>>5728906
Agreed. Even V. was more difficult than M&D. The language in M&D might be more difficult, but you get used to it. What makes M&D easier is that it is a more linear, straightforward story than GR and V.

>> No.5729198

>>5728799
>I read Gravity's Rainbow as a 17 year old girl

Legitimately one of the most retarded things I've ever heard. You must be so fucking annoying and fat.

>> No.5729426

>>5729198
Yeah. Don't you just hate fake-literature-girls?

... seriously, is this place really just /v/ for books?

>> No.5729560

i didn't become a heavy reader until about a year ago and i am still enjoying V. just fine. occasionally i have to go back a chapter or two for a second to clarify something but it really isn't that difficult

pynchons writing style is probably the most enjoyable i've read yet

>> No.5729597
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5729597

>>5729198
>mfw I'm male and aren't and have never been fat

Annoying is subjective, though.

>> No.5729753

>>5728533
I'm 27 but I read Lot 49, Gravity's Rainbow and V. all for the first time when I was between 19 and 21. I think Mason & Dixon is his densest novel but is overall a little easier to read than Gravity's Rainbow. I would recommend reading Bleeding Edge next, it's the most similar to Inherent Vice and it's great. They're all great. Try Lot 49 too, it's short but a little more dense than IV/BE.

>>5728826
>>5728906
>>5728799
I agree with some of this but disagree with a lot of it. M&D is unquestionably a very difficult novel even after you've gotten 50-100 pages in and are more or less used to the faux-archaic prose style. There are subtle things you need to pick up on (for instance, when certain characters are lying, or have very specific ulterior motives, because some of them lie A LOT) that his later novels--well, IV and BE--spell out much more clearly. It's not as hard as it sometimes is in Gravity's Rainbow to figure out what exactly is going on, but it's frequently harder to parse the meaning behind the text.

Also, feel free to dogpile on me for this one, but I think V. is a tad overrated, and Inherent Vice/Bleeding Edge are both underrated.

>> No.5729784

>>5729753

I agree... I think Bleeding Edge deserves way more credit. I'm not quite sure about Inherent Vice though it's possible that I just can't appreciate it enough. I'm much more familiar with early 00s nerd-culture than with 60s hippie-culture.

What I also find slightly underappreciated is Vineland which I enjoyed more than IV and about as much as BE.

>> No.5729811

Daily reminder that girls don't read pinecone.

>> No.5729841

>>5729784
People tend to poopoo on Vineland because it was the direct follow-up to GR, and it's pretty held back, in comparison, i.e. it's more straight-forward and "accessible." So, people were let-down by this change.

That's my understanding, anyway.

>> No.5729868

>>5728533
>couldn't follow V.

For fucks sake ...

>> No.5729885

>>5729426
>... seriously, is this place really just /v/ for books?
there's a reason newfags are told to "lurk more", it's so you don't have to shitpost and ask dumb questions

>> No.5730217

>>5729198
this post makes me real mad

>> No.5730418

>>5729426
Tu tienes que get el fuck out of aqui

>> No.5730498

>>5729198
this post made me laugh

why are you so angry?

>> No.5730501

I just copped V., but I also have a library copy of Lot 49, however there's fucking notes all over it

will the notes help?

>> No.5730531
File: 2.31 MB, 3840x2160, DSC_0023.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
5730531

>>5730501
On closer inspection they seem retarded.

Anyone have this 1979 picador edition?

>> No.5731128

>>5728533
Man, why is CL49 the Wii U
And why aren't the xbone and PS4 similar. I mean I would expect them to be like Bleeding Edge and Inherent Vice

>> No.5731930

>>5729811

met a QT at Barnes and Noble looking for Pynchon, Joyce, and DFW and she was really attracted to me based on my tastes. Followed me and showed me her favorite of each author. Too bad I ruined any potential future with mind-crushing stupidity and over-attachment haha hahaha :( anyway she said read V then Lot 49 then Gravity's Rainbow so she probably knew he shit

>> No.5731938
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5731938

>>5731930
>Too bad I ruined any potential future with mind-crushing stupidity and over-attachment haha hahaha :( anyway

>> No.5731988

Is Bleeding Edge really as bad as the picture suggests? I'm planning on re-reading it after I wrap up the semester.

>> No.5731993

>>5731988 should just say reading, not re-reading.

>> No.5731996

>>5731988
According to that image, Mason and Dixon is also shit, even though it's his best novel

>> No.5732166

>>5729753
I actually am planning on reading Bleeding Edge next as it feels like another straight forward novel with more recent references so I'm looking pretty forward to it. May pick up Lot 49 before I go after M&D and see how I go with that.

>> No.5732195

>>5730531
i have this one anon

>> No.5732615

>>5731988
No, it's pretty good. Certainly on of his more linear, more light-hearted books but it's enjoyable. At it's core it's effectively a Cyberpunk novel set in the near past rather than the far future.

>> No.5732641

>>5728533
>It just seems like I needed to have grown up in the time it was written to truly grasp what he's trying to say.
This is not the case at all. You won't get all of the references (you wouldn't even if you did grow up when they were written; many of the references are to earlier points in history, and both contemporary and historical references are often obscure) but that's not vital for having a general understanding of his works. If you get hung up on every reference you don't get you'll have a tough time making it through Pynchon Classic.

Mason & Dixon, for example, is more linear and straight-forward than V. but it still has tons of references to that time period.

>> No.5732648

le man with weird name farts

>> No.5732655

>>5732641
It just feels a bit alienating when I'm not getting what he's trying to imply several times over in a row and isolates me from the story a bit.

Mason and Dixon seems a bit more modern than that so it seems it might be a bit more bearable.