/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.6947174]

What is it about the Pinecone that you litbros like so much? I haven't read him so I wanna get excited about diving in

[Anonymous No.6947184]

I've just finished TCOL49, and what I liked about him was:

- He is legitimately funny as hell
- His prose is pretty fucking awesome if you get into it
- He is hard to understand and his themes arent straightforward

I'd say that's what other anons feel about him as well.

[Anonymous No.6947190]

>>6947174
the thing i like the most is that he's a memeauthor

[Anonymous No.6947532]

>>6947184
>He is hard to understand
How is this a good thing?
I agree with the other points. His books can be challenging, but the ones I've read were definitely worth it. Interesting themes, great style, complex but also full of humour.

[Anonymous No.6947704]

>>6947174
Pynchon knows things that we don't.

And he won't tell you. And he teases you with that fact.

[Anonymous No.6947714]

[Anonymous No.6947730]

>>6947714
That black and white Penguin has been corrected since mine lacks those errors. Just check before buying.

[Anonymous No.6947737]

>>6947730
It's just a meme now

[Anonymous No.6947741]

>>6947714
>tfw a chart you made a year ago is now a staple of Pynchon threads on /lit/

[Anonymous No.6947744]

>>6947714
Don't follow this stupid chart. I read GR first and I was fine

[Anonymous No.6947748]

>>6947744
Have you read V.?

[Anonymous No.6947763]

>>6947532
it's only more rewarding when you finally get what he's trying to say

[Anonymous No.6948369]

>>6947748
No why

[Anonymous No.6948381]

>>6948369
Well then how the fuck would you know if you missed anything? Mondaugen's connections in Afrika? Pig Bodine's character saga? etc....

[Anonymous No.6948385]

>>6947741
thx 4 contribootin

[Anonymous No.6948392]

really love his quirkiness

[Anonymous No.6948421]

>>6947174
There are moments of extreme profundity and then moments of hilarious slapstick comedy and I find the mix very enthralling.

[Anonymous No.6948431]

>>6948369
You're not "fine" at all then you retard. Gravity's Rainbow is basically a prequel/sequel to V. though this tends to be very rarely mentioned for some inexplicable reason.

[Anonymous No.6948664]

I like V beter than GR, is that wrong?

[Anonymous No.6948690]

>>6947174
He understands what its like to be a lonely loser ;_;

Also he's funny.

[Anonymous No.6949104]

>>6947730
where are the errors?

[Anonymous No.6949444]

Same reason that Joyce is so well-regarded.

Superficially, there is the acumen that comes with reading a really big book that is so infamous because it is such a big book.

But also because Joyce and Pynchon are both first class English language stylists. They have a mastery over the language that encompasses a variety of different literary traditions. Most poets would dream of writing as musically daring and enchanting lines as Pynchon and Joyce at their best. Aside from the simple joy of language as such, Pynchon and Joyce are also wildly entertaining. They share a similar love of the craft in the style of Shakespeare, enjoying keeping those in the pits jovial and rollicking with laughter.

But they also have an astounding reach in their narrative structure. It's no coincidence that both Joyce and Pynchon lean towards the esoteric, the cabalistic, the gnostic in their respective great novels. The range of symbols, the carrying on of tradition, the inventive appropriation of thousands of years of Western history and thought, the sense that a book, that some knowledge transmitted through language is on the cusp of breaking with history is mesmerizing. Pynchon's rocket rips through time and space. Joyce's psuedo-messiah Bloom opens (half ironically mind you) the possibility of shifting our relation to history.

But at their core, they are both deeply interested in the cares and affairs of individuals. Pirate Prentice, Stephen Daedalus, Slothrop, etc. for all their playing of roles in some grand, cosmic transformation are deeply felt individuals. After the messianic event, after the rocket apocalypse we have very simply humans clasping one another; hands in a theater, Stephen and Leopold over coffee.

[Anonymous No.6949486]

>>6947174
nothing, is just Philip K. Dick for hipsters

[Anonymous No.6949691]

wide variety of literary topics discussed, intelligence evened out by fun in lowbrow bugs bunny to adam sandler humor

[Anonymous No.6949738]

>>6949444
Gonna save this post, hope you don't mind. It's pretty great

[Anonymous No.6949838]

>>6949444
upvoted

[Anonymous No.6949924]

>>6949444
>jovial and rollicking