Gravity’s Rainbow Support/Collaboration Thread

This is an urban legend most likely. He's surely smoked a lot of weed and done acid several times, but he doesn't at all seem like hard-core drug user in terms of opiates, ditransitives, hypnotics, stimulants and the like. I think there's a telephone-game type distortion going on.

If you know what he said exactly post it.

But no, even Pynchon were to come out say he had no idea what he was talking about and can't comprehend the book himself, it would not diminish my appreciation or enjoyment of it whatsoever. I might be a bit more skeptical about there being relevance to some of the more cryptic passages, but those make up a relatively tiny portion of the overall work.

The research aspect is actually quite enjoyable. You learn quite a bit.

He, like a lot of high-end authors, puts untranslated pieces of foreign languages here and there. German and Latin/Italian and maybe a teeny tiny bit of Slavic whatever, I can't really remember.

Make is used a noun in English when referring to a product produced at a specific type by a specific entity. It's used alongside model mostly.

oh, ok thanks

If you are not a native English speaker and an American. GR ishould be way off your radar.

Even browsing a highly opinionated, highly contextual, English language literature board that has very little in common with international academia or the study of international literature, speaks fucking volumes.

Will you make this thread again?

I read it in a month, it's a long book but it's not THAT long.

It's a quote shilled by Jules Siegel, the guy Pynchon cucked while writing GR.

Siegel posted that in the Pynchon-list forum that Pinecone had said "I was so fucked up while writing it that I don't know what I meant and had to rewrite it." That's the full context of the quote. And then every poster basically called Siegel a piece of shit for insinuating that "drugs wrote Pynchon." So Siegel kind of stepped back and tried to defend himself.

Then Siegel came out with the documentary Journey Into the Mind of P, which stretches out 15 minutes into a while fucking 1hr+ documentary. And then Siegel published a book with his wife (the one Pynchon briefly fucked) that consisted just of posts by him and his wife from the Pynchon-list forum.

tl;dr If you're gonna take Siegel seriously, at least do your research

Let me be clear: Pynchon is alleged to have said that BEFORE he published GR (ie early drafts were written while high as shit, ALLEGEDLY).

What do you make of the tarot at the end and specifically the King of Cups?

I read the crying of lot 49 and didn't enjoy it, so I'm hesitant to take on longer reads. Anyone dislike lot 49 but enjoy GR?

The book just arrived through the mail.

English isn't my native language, but I can freely communicate in it and I've read all Lovecraft's works and Lolita in English and had no trouble at all.

I'm kinda scared of the references - I'm young (18 years old) and I'm not the most culturally aware person around.

Will I enjoy it? Any advice?

Not OP, but you're basically me except I'm 19 and not into Lovecraft. I read Lolita about a year before I read GR.

Weisenburger's guide is really useful for references and episode summaries, but it won't help you parse any of the weirder sentences or explain any ideas. GR is very enjoyable and understandable on a surface level (except some episodes in the end) if you're OK with rereading a bunch of sentences.

Every day, until you read it.

You sound like a smart guy.

Was this like newgroups era or mailinglists era?
Where is this glorious drama archived?

You mean when Slothrop comes up in the North Sea? That is one of the harder passages in the book for sure.

As best I remember my sticking point was the bicycle reference towards the end of that passage. The parallels between the minor arcana and the french deck, and the American Bicycle Brand Playing Cards, are being used to set Slothrop up as both the king of hearts and the knave for the last section.

Meh, I read it after GR so I thought it wasn't that great. It's much more about delusions of reference, hallucinated signification, and such that think he gets much deeper and much more interestingly into the subject in GR with Slothrop and the rocket and unguided behavioral reinforcement.

Seriously M&D is the only thing that comes close to GR. I've never read V. I might. I''m weary of taking in new Pynchon.

If you can read Lolita you can read GR. You'll enjoy it if you really read it and don't gloss over it with a companion text.

Those summaries always seemed like spoilers to me. Part of the experience is acclimating to text I think. But if it feels good do it.

right here
waste.org/pynchon-l/

figure out how to navigate it and let me know

>Anyone dislike lot 49 but enjoy GR?
Everyone who isn't a moron.

Just finished Part 1 a few hours ago, only a few parts gave me problems.
How do the other parts compare in terms of readability?
I've heard 2 is easier.
I've heard from some that 3 is easier and from others that it's harder.
And I've heard that 4 is very hard.

Don't remember how difficult 2 was.
3 is huge, and I thought some episodes were unnecessary. Understanding people's motives is hard. Less enjoyable than 1, maybe that's why it's a bit harder.
4 was fun in the beginning in a WTF way but it lost me towards the end. The hardest by far, if it's supposed to mean something.

what do you think of v.?

3 and 4 and neither "easy " or " hard". The story breaks down, especially in 4, and it seems very random. But if you have been paying attention to all the names, and characteristics of people, it should still make some sense to you.

Any chance you'll elaborate a bit on part 4? It really kinda lost me

>As best I remember my sticking point was the bicycle reference towards the end of that passage. The parallels between the minor arcana and the french deck, and the American Bicycle Brand Playing Cards, are being used to set Slothrop up as both the king of hearts and the knave for the last section.

Elaborate.

It always amazes e that newsgroups still exist. Jules Siegel gives 10+ pages of results and the quote itself gives zero. What should I search for to see it?

There are hard parts but they are usually about new characters and peripheral actors. The easiest part of the book is probably A Furlough at the Hermann Göring Casino followed by In the Zone.

The hardest parts of In the Zone are the ones that focus on Blicero and other german side characters, where he begins to get deep into the maths and mechanics of the V2 rocket. But they are also some of the best in the book. Slothrop is basically on a walkabout.

That's the right passage correct, around the pig costume's appearance?

I'll reread it tonight just for you and then come back and elaborate.

>Are you reading Gravity’s Rainbow? Have you started and then stopped out of frustration, confusion, laziness?

No. On the contrary, I've own it but haven't even started.

Why should I start?