Wow, this is somber, funny, disturbing and even harrowing all in turn.
I'm 300 pages through, reading about the siege of Valletta.
This is much less light hearted than The Crying of Lot 49 which itself is almost just a perpetual comedy.
I think I'm going to have to take a break after finishing it though before I jump into Gravity's Rainbow. Maybe read something classic, linear and easy.
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you dont think GR is light-hearted?
I don't know, I haven't started it yet, but I hear plot threads are even more spread out than V and I know Kurt Moundagen is in it which provided possibly the yet most disturbing account of V so far.
V is funny intermittently, usually with the whole sick crew but it seems almost like it is a collection of short stories that helped Pynchon flesh out his feelings about the war and man's own cruelty to man.
Most pinecones are wacky with a progressively intensifying undertone of paranoia and malaise.
He was never in any war himself though. He served in the navy during peacetime.
GR has a few islands of comedy in a sea of disturbing and incomprehensible other stuff. I would say that it includes light-hearted passages but doesn't really have an "overall" tone.
I'm surprised OP describes TCoL49 as a "perpetual comedy". I did get a few chuckles out of it but mostly it's just a series of events with some commentary about paranoia. Again, it has funny parts, but I wouldn't describe it as "a comedy" to anyone.
I know, but he grew up in a time surrounded by war and the concepts he deals with in here are clearly in relation to war and the realization of how war changes humans.
I mean I've never been in a war (and neither have many Americans, including and especially the soldiers of the modern US military) but I still can understand and consider the effects that living in a city under siege would have on the human psyche or the effects of being given absolute power over a group of humans you've been taught to consider inhuman.
The section I just read, where Fausto II walks through the rubble of Valletta experiencing a moment of humanity and peace life with his wife just days before she dies in the day of 13 raids was one of the most profoundly moving passages I have yet read. To have that moment really puts in perspective, the mindset that real actual war brings to people. A level of pain and suffering that people in our modern western world can no longer even comprehend enough to attempt avoiding it.
I don't find paranoia, extremely disturbing. There are moments of seriousness in The Crying of Lot 49 but the overall tone is much lighter and the work lacks a philosophical depth that has so far been displayed in V. No wonder Pynchon dislikes The Crying of Lot 49.
What a fantastic book cover. Where can I buy one of these editions?
Read Entropy and The Secret Integration if you have time, and skim spitfirelist.com
If you do that then GR is ez
FUCK NO GR is bleak as hell
I think you may have confused my description of 49 with my description of GR. I don't think 49 is that disturbing, either, but GR is. GR has a lot of scenes of pedophilia, scat porn, and other stuff.
it's not that bad
It's the bantam paperback. It has the added benefit of being (to my knowledge) the only edition of the book to be released in the United States with the actual final text.
Most US editions are for some reason based on the US first edition which was made from an early proof and contain a number of errors and an inferior ending, according to old pinecone himself.
Scat porn isn't that disturbing. We're on Veeky Forums.
What's disturbing about V is it's descriptions of what war does to the human spirit. I'm very interested to see where it's going. I just finished the section on the siege.
man, that book was hilarious
>perpetual comedy
I thought the most touching scene was when the kids start pulling the Bad Priest apart, limb by limb, and then Fausto gives her her last rites.
Thanks, I'm gonna order one.
I agree. In general, that is an extremely strong chapter.
I've asked this before, but my OCD can't leave me alone. Has anyone made comparisons or found themselves troubled choosing between pic related edition and the Vintage Classics "where's waldo" edition? I gather the VC edition is the revised and corrected edition and many others including pic related are previous to those corrections. Even though those corrections seem to be very minor, I'm just paralyzed as to which one to buy
Also, I was warned that the waldo editions are shit quality, but I bought Vineland in that edition and, though it's not eye candy, I can't complain, I think it's acceptable in terms of quality
Who is it revised by? If TP, then surely it's the definitive version?
pynchon.net
This is the famous article explaining the whole thing. My point is that the corrections are probably very very minor to merit choosing an inferior quality edition. I Think the one from the picture I posted is probably a 'prettier' nicer edition, so I'm at odds as to which one to get
i dont know which version is the correct one but as far as i can tell the corrections were "i fucked up her dress size, wouldn't be believable" and stuff like that
Yeah, I know. But still. I just couldn't live with that. I succumbed and ordered the waldo edition. It was a little cheaper too