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/lit/ - Literature

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8634034 No.8634034 [Reply] [Original]

Is it pretty safe to assume that Pynchon was at least partially influenced by Catch-22 while he was writing Gravity's Rainbow? They both seem to share themes of paranoia as well as alienation and helplessness in the face of an uncaring and hopelessly complex war-machine that leads the protagonist into a mental downward spiral (to a lesser extent in Catch-22). The settings are in the same time-period with various liberties taken to historical accuracy, and they share the same blend of "low-brow" humor and satire with hard-hitting moments of seriousness and reflection.

Has anyone else put heavier thought into this or read into it at all? I found a paper someone wrote on the subject back in the 90's but it is unfortunately behind a paywall.

>> No.8634045

>>8634034
>Is it pretty safe to assume that Pynchon was at least partially influenced by Catch-22 while he was writing Gravity's Rainbow
i dont know

>> No.8634053

>>8634034

Both men were WW2 veterans and the tone of their novels was probably a natural response to their experiences.

>> No.8634058

>>8634034
behind a paywall, you say?

http://sci-hub.io/

i'll trade you this for the link to said paper!

>> No.8634068

>>8634053
Pynchon wasn't a WWII vet. He didn't serve in the navy until the late 50's.

>> No.8634090

>>8634058
maybe paywall was the wrong terminology because that doesn't seem to work. I could just be retarded, though. either way, thanks for that link.

https://litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com/webcd/app?action=DocumentDisplay&crawlid=1&doctype=cite&docid=24+Okla.+City+U.L.+Rev.+665&srctype=smi&srcid=3B15&key=8e7b84b20039992f51c0faf87c1167ad

>> No.8634129

>>8634034
Let me find that letter for you...

> "I love it. I won't tell you how much, or why, because I always sound phony whenever I start running off at the mouth like a literary critic. But it is close to the finest novel I've ever read.

> ps -- Who is this guy Heller and when is he going to write another one?"

>> No.8634134

>>8634090
http://heinonline.org.sci-hub.io/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/okcu24&div=36&id=&page=&collection=journals

just gotta try another version of it sometimes. here you go, friend.

>> No.8634149

>>8634129
Kind of sad in a way that Pynchon was worried about sounding "phony"

>>8634134
oh man, thanks a ton.

>> No.8634201

Any heavy influence on Pynchon is unlikely. He would have spent atleast a year writing V by the time he read catch 22 and a lot of the elements you identified in Gravity's Rainbow can be found originally in V. I think the similarities between the two novels owe mostly to the stimuli that led to their creation. Both Joseph Heller and Thomas Pynchon grew up in post war America and there opinions on the state of the nation were imbued into their writing. There are many other novelists who you could draw the same connection to, for instance many parallels can be drawn to The Recognitions which came out almost twenty years before Gravity's Rainbow.

Another example of this happening is Invitation to a Beheading and The Trial. Remarkably similar stories in theme, presentation, and content yet Nabokov states that he had not read the Trial when he composed his book. Its a case of novels being written in reaction to the same issue (in this instance, European bureaucracy) .

>> No.8634289

>>8634201
>He would have spent atleast a year writing V by the time he read catch 22
Mind that he must have read it before it was published, since his editor was asking him for a blurb
>European bureaucracy
While I do agree that both novels have a similar core, it doesn't very much relate to that

>> No.8634315

>>8634289
>Mind that he must have read it before it was published
Good point, didn't consider this.

>it doesn't very much relate to that
Less so ITAB than the trial, but its importance is undeniable. The Trial as a satire of the extreme stratification of government is probably the easiest reading of the novel.

>> No.8634356

No. Try again.

>> No.8634467

>>8634356
>>8634201
haha dumb fags

https://pynchonnotes.openlibhums.org/articles/abstract/10.16995/pn.56/

Parallel found between "you never did the Kenosha Kid" and Yossarian writing letters

>> No.8634577

What image did the rocket fall upon in the end of the novel ?