Finally this is over...Let's discuss.
Kool Aide suicidal meme
Enjoy the 70s
But you never did the Kenosha Kid.
>>7402412
Superman never saved the day :(
>>7402412
Best secondary source material or biggest realization that made the novel "click" for you?
>>7403398
no response.jpg
>>7403398
>Best secondary source material
There's a wiki and a reader's Companion...?
>biggest realization that made the novel "click" for you?
Having read it a first time. How else are you supposed to pay attention to that seance at the beginning... not even sure how clear it was that Blicero = Weissmann the first time around...
>>7402412
post favorite quotes/segments
"The knife cuts through the apple like a knife cutting an apple."
>>7403725
>Major Marvy sucks!
>>7403398
http://spitfirelist.com/books/honorable01.pdf
>>7402412
The Recognitions reading when?
What were everyone's favorite scenes? I loved every time Slothrop ran into Marvy. Apparently the lewd limericks are pretty well known, but I personally preferred when he throws the pies out of the hot air balloon. I think it's a perfect example of Pynchon's humor and style without crossing into the obscene.
Pirate's dream sequences were also GOAT.
The only story line I didn't enjoy very much was Tchitcherine and Enzian. I must have missed something early on because I could never figure out Tchitcherine's motivation or how it figured into the bigger picture of the 00000.
>>7403398
>biggest realization that made the novel "click" for you?
King Kong = Sacrificial Ape = Man
Banana = Moon = Rocket = Penis
>>7405323
>I could never figure out Tchitcherine's motivation or how it figured into the bigger picture of the 00000.
His motivation is the same motivation everyone else had, a sort of death wish, a search for history or truth, for the end; the ultimate drive of all our technology, death in service of life. Also, pic related to his relationship with Enzian.
I guess.
>>7403725
"Mba-kayere"
"Fickt nicht mit dem Raketemensch!"
>>7405352
>His motivation is the same motivation everyone else had, a sort of death wish, a search for history or truth, for the end; the ultimate drive of all our technology, death in service of life.
Ya, I guess I sorta figured as much. It's just I don't think it ever came right out and explained why he wanted to kill him in a more literal sense, even in Pynchon's sideways/indirect way of explaining plot points. On top of that I thought Tchitcherine was the least likable of all the "main" characters so I was never especially interested in figuring it out.
>>7405323
I was the opposite, loved the Enzian/Tchitcherine plot but never even slightly understood what the fuck was going on with Pirate.
>>7405394
>It's just I don't think it ever came right out and explained why he wanted to kill him in a more literal sense, even in Pynchon's sideways/indirect way of explaining plot points.
He wanted to die more than kill him. He was afraid of not doing what he should do, so he seeked his antithesis to either be destroyed or change. If we remember he's half-man half-metal, is he not more of a physical incarnation of the techno-death-wish than any of the others? He's more death drive than anything else, therefore why he's equated with a barbarian, like Genghis he's always moving, getting with as many women as he can, always penetrating into new territory, but has no culture so as to speak (compare to Enzian, born from the gathering of Europe and the Edge).
>It happened first with the Kirghiz Light, and his only illumination then was that fear would always keep him from going all the way in. He will never get further than the edge of this meta-cartel which has made itself known tonight [...] He will miss the Light, but not the Finger.
To answer one of the questions in your original post: The short chapter where Geli stops Tchitcherine from facing Enzian was one of my favorites. (Geli a best.)
Gravity's Rainbow is a meme.
>>7405436
But what a meme!
>>7405445
The very nature of a meme is a joke.
>>7403398
the history of slothrops'
hansel and gretel
pg520/521
the fate of the counterforce
jamf's final lecture
ascent
and the zhlubb/theatre sequences
>>7405449
I guess your life's a meme then!
>>7405460
*snap*
Lessee.
Slothrop's dispersation at the star of part 4 happens so the Rocket can be gathered, disjoining so the Rocket can be joined. This makes him kind of a Jesus figure. He took the Zone into him and passed into legend as Rocketman and Porky Pig tattoos. (Making Marvy some sort of reverse Judas?) He was the thing that glued all of the story together, iirc he meets most all characters at one time or another, or almost all of them. He's connected to everyone, he's the center of the world. He's Entropy, or Sloth; are Sloth and Entropy choices or synonyms? Or in some Taoist way, by going full Sloth, Tyrone finally becomes Entropy (the Rocket)?
Does this make sense?
>>7405514
It sounds perfectly logical.
"Bump," sez Anon.
>>7405514
Tyrone Slothrop.
Sloth or Entropy.
>>7407472
Embarrassingly I have never seen this before
>>7407958
Have you read Pinecone's essay on Sloth? All of his essays are top-notch.
>>7407973
I have not! Any other essays of his you particularly recommend?
>>7408366
The one on Luddism and the one on Watts. All extremely relevant.
Missed the reading. How do I get my hands on an orange edition? Seems like it's out of print
Who else is rereading this starting tomorrow? It's so fresh in my mind. Now is the best time for a reread, I think.
>>7408392
bold move
What did you think of how he incorporated so much math into the story? Thankfully I've a decent understanding of the concepts he touches on, but I can see how if you haven't taken at least calculus entire chapters could be lost on you. I think it was a pretty bold move on Pynchon's part to assume that sort of mathematical literacy from his readers, who are probably not the mathy types.
>>7408392
I almost never reread, but I too have the urge to start again ASAP. I think a second time around I'd be able to ignore, or at least not worry about, the plot/who's who/getting accustomed to Pynchon's style, and just enjoy the prose for what it is.
>>7402412
Is there a book picked for December? I would like to participate in one of these pls
>>7408376
I found one in free bin at my bookstore. But I don't know how you will find one.
>>7408627
>incorporated so much math
I think he just did it as a matter of fact when drafting it, and then it's not like putting them into words would have been of much help to those who wouldn't understand the equations to begin with
>>7408627
>he incorporated so much math into the story
did he? seems to me like the math mostly makes up asides or can be understood by inference
>>7409448
Well the whole section Beyond the Zero dealt with the trajectory of the rocket, parabolas, zeroes of an equation, Poisson distributions, etc. all using pretty esoteric math terms. I'd imagine if you weren't familiar with those concepts the points he was trying to make would slip by or could only be understood tangentially (though a lot of the book does anyway).
>>7409075
My vote is for The Recognitions, as I've stated before, but some anon's had issue with that. I'd be down to help organize one for anything from Gaddis or Hawkes, and could share my notes from my lectures on them if people are interested.
>>7410584
>>7409075
We should make it December 14 or so thru January 14, most collegefags will probably have that time off and we'll have higher participation. I imagine it's give or take a week each way depending on where people go to school and all that, but I think that will get the most people having break simultaneously.
>>7405323
The giant octopus harassing the woman on the beach. Pynchon's hentai was before its time.
>>7408376
ebay might be an obvious choice but also check around some of your local independent book stores, they might have a copy
>>7408392
Damn dude, good luck. I finished this book earlier in the summer and the first thing I wanted was some mindless quick reads; it's gonna be a few years before I revisit GR.
>>7410611
That sounds pretty good. Dalkey edition of Recognitions is 956 pages, meaning 30 pages a day of good ole Gaddis.
>>7409109
What a Pynchon-esque answer.
>>7410658
We should get a couple more suggestions and then put them up for a vote
>>7410616
Was that really a coincidence or did Katje set that up as a ruse to meet Slothrop?I caught the paranoia :/
>>7411453
American Psycho?
What's up with the Cannibal restaurant? I've read the book twice and it still doesn't make any sense to me
how 'real' is that scene? also does it seem like anyone else like a scene taken from naked lunch? especially the grotesque menus
come to think of it, pig bodine is kind of like a less psychopathic AJ
>>7411453
What about Blood Meridian? I was thinking of starting that soon and it's less than 300 pages.
>>7412031
I felt strongly reminded of Burroughs throughout the third and fourth parts of the book. Both in the content and the prose, although, I have to say I think I may prefer Pynchon after finishing GR. The last book I actually enjoyed that much was Naked Lunch
>>7412207
I MUCH prefer pynchon to burroguhs
In fact I'm full blown in love with thomas pynchon where burroughs to me is little more than a curiosity.
>>7412172
I would definitely do Blood Meridian. I've had it in my to-be-read pile for ages now.
>>7411458
Pointsman trained Grigori the octopus to do that and Katje was in on the scheme to use the octopus as a way for them to meet.
bumping because i read this whole goddam book and i wanna get my moneys worth
>>7413259
Have ye heard of the heartbeat theory?
The man in a divers suit covered in nuts and bolts trying to get struck by lightning?
>>7412266
Doo eet.
>>7408392
you pretty much have to reread this thing to understand it. It gets so much better when you know where everything is going
>>7413913
I'm re-reading it now since I read it last summer and it is sooo fucking good. I keep getting excited for upcoming parts and when they come to it's absolute bliss.
