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I wrote a paper on Gravity's Rainbow without reading it, and got an A- on it, from which I conclude the professor either had not read my paper, or had not read

I wrote a paper on Gravity's Rainbow without reading it, and got an A- on it, from which I conclude the professor either had not read my paper, or had not read Gravity's Rainbow. Either are possible. I prefer to believe that nobody has ever actually read Gravity's Rainbow.

paddw 4y ago
I think you can get an A- on a paper these days for writing anything remotely representing a cogent or lucid train of thought.
- itronitron 4y ago
  The comedian Father Guido Sarducci has a great joke about that.
- coldtea 4y ago
  You're describing much higher standards than what's the case...
Verdex 4y ago
I've only ever read the wikipedia summary. And from that much I actually wonder if the professor having read Gravity's Rainbow was more likely to have given your paper an A- than another professor who hadn't. Like the book sounds like if you were to truly understand it then you would no longer understand reality. And this suggests an interesting thought experiment in human comprehensibility. Does there exist some media where a totally ignorant analysis becomes more compelling once you have actually experienced the media being analyzed versus before you have experienced the media.
not2b 4y ago
I read it, decades ago. I have to confess that i skipped some of the dryer parts, so I probably read 80% of it. There were parts that were just amazing, and other parts not so much so. It was well worth it.
notahacker 4y ago
I must admit that I have, in fact, actually read Gravity's Rainbow. On the other hand, I do think it's likely to be high on the list of books most admired by people that read about it instead of reading it... (Atlas Shrugged is another. In certain business and political circles, the book about the business leaders going on strike to prove how much value they really create sounds like the one you want to cite as your inspiration, but whenever you open it, it just seems like 1000 pages of weirdness about trains, philosopher pirates and genius scions of self-made conquistadors peddling stock scams as an unlikely act of heroism, with drive-by digs at Christianity, marital fidelity and nuclear weapons and an 80 page speech in which the world is inoculated against socialism by the revelation that 'A is A'. Bet there's lots of high fantasy lovers that loved works influenced by LOTR but never quite got past Tom Bombadil in the actual book too, but then there's others that will know the appendices off by heart!)
- legulere 4y ago
  Atlas shrugged even contains a part where it complains of rentier capitalism, and only paints people that are truly genius deserving of their fruits of labour. It’s a horribly written book that also I didn’t finish, but at least it’s ideology also goes a bit against the people that think it’s about them not getting enough.
- clairity 4y ago
  i've read both gravity's rainbow and atlas shrugged, and found both to be worth reading, but gravity's rainbow was immensely denser and commensurately more intriguing, if also frustrating. atlas shrugged is as straightforward as to kill a mockingbird or the handmaid's tale in its plot and messaging, and worth the read in for similarly straightforward reasons. gravity's rainbow seems like it was strained through the multiverse of everything, everywhere, all at once and spit out linearly fractalized. it's challenging to say the least. tolkien, on the other hand, i found so boring as to never have been able to finish even a fraction of any of his books.
- nkrisc 4y ago
  Having read about half of LOTR when I was a kid, then seeing the movie trilogy, to reading it now to my son, I have to say I actually enjoy it more having seen the movie already. Knowing the general plot from the movie makes reading everything that happens in between the major story beats much more interesting since I have a sense of where in the story we are. It’s also fun to notice the differences when they adapted the story for the screen. I’ve also told my son the general plot several times beforehand (when he wanted me to tell him a story and I couldn’t think of any other) and I think he’s much more into it because of that as well. He knows where we are overall and what generally comes next.
itronitron 4y ago
They probably did not read it. I've read the first third of the book, at some point I'll make another attempt. Pynchon's writing style is rather interesting in that reading it, for me at least, requires dedicated concentration for multiple pages until the point when I get 'sucked into' the book and then it flows. The only person I know that has read through it did so on a road trip and just plowed through without trying to make sense of entire chapters. Gravity's Rainbow is also more challenging because it spans a lot of different characters and subplots. The Crying of Lot 49 is much easier, and Vineland is an aberration. I know one person who thinks that Pynchon hired a ghost writer for Vineland because the writing style is so different.
- mason55 4y ago
  > Pynchon's writing style is rather interesting in that reading it, for me at least, requires dedicated concentration for multiple pages until the point when I get 'sucked into' the book and then it flows Yeah, my problem was that I'd get into the flow when there was action and things happening, and then zone out during the more descriptive/sensationalist passages, but not zone back in until I'd missed a bunch more action. I tried just reading it without worrying if I was zoning in and out but I found that I was missing so much that it wasn't holding my interest. I loved the book when I was able to really sit and focus hard on what I was reading but at the moment most of my reading happens in bed as I'm falling asleep and it's just not the kind of book that works for me for that kind of reading. Hopefully some day.
- beebmam 4y ago
  What is it like reading Pynchon translated into other languages? Has anyone done this before?
  - hackandthink 4y ago
    I enjoyed the german translation of Gravity's rainbow. Elfriede Jelinek (one of the translators) is a famous austrian writer (though I don't like her plays). Quite a few years later I tried "Mason & Dixon" in English and gave up after maybe 20 pages. I bought the german translation and gave up after maybe 50 pages.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
mobb_solo 4y ago
Pynchon isn't "difficult". Try getting stoned before reading.
ericmcer 4y ago
I read it but was possessed by a certain motivation that I have never had for another book. Ulysses and Infinite Jest have both beaten me multiple times and I doubt I could finish GR again. It was just a stars aligning moment where headspace and lifestyle and beliefs all combined to make it an enjoyable read.

paddw 4y ago

I think you can get an A- on a paper these days for writing anything remotely representing a cogent or lucid train of thought.

itronitron 4y ago
The comedian Father Guido Sarducci has a great joke about that.
coldtea 4y ago
You're describing much higher standards than what's the case...

Verdex 4y ago

I've only ever read the wikipedia summary. And from that much I actually wonder if the professor having read Gravity's Rainbow was more likely to have given your paper an A- than another professor who hadn't. Like the book sounds like if you were to truly understand it then you would no longer understand reality. And this suggests an interesting thought experiment in human comprehensibility. Does there exist some media where a totally ignorant analysis becomes more compelling once you have actually experienced the media being analyzed versus before you have experienced the media.

not2b 4y ago

I read it, decades ago. I have to confess that i skipped some of the dryer parts, so I probably read 80% of it. There were parts that were just amazing, and other parts not so much so. It was well worth it.

notahacker 4y ago

I must admit that I have, in fact, actually read Gravity's Rainbow. On the other hand, I do think it's likely to be high on the list of books most admired by people that read about it instead of reading it... (Atlas Shrugged is another. In certain business and political circles, the book about the business leaders going on strike to prove how much value they really create sounds like the one you want to cite as your inspiration, but whenever you open it, it just seems like 1000 pages of weirdness about trains, philosopher pirates and genius scions of self-made conquistadors peddling stock scams as an unlikely act of heroism, with drive-by digs at Christianity, marital fidelity and nuclear weapons and an 80 page speech in which the world is inoculated against socialism by the revelation that 'A is A'. Bet there's lots of high fantasy lovers that loved works influenced by LOTR but never quite got past Tom Bombadil in the actual book too, but then there's others that will know the appendices off by heart!)

legulere 4y ago
Atlas shrugged even contains a part where it complains of rentier capitalism, and only paints people that are truly genius deserving of their fruits of labour. It’s a horribly written book that also I didn’t finish, but at least it’s ideology also goes a bit against the people that think it’s about them not getting enough.
clairity 4y ago
i've read both gravity's rainbow and atlas shrugged, and found both to be worth reading, but gravity's rainbow was immensely denser and commensurately more intriguing, if also frustrating. atlas shrugged is as straightforward as to kill a mockingbird or the handmaid's tale in its plot and messaging, and worth the read in for similarly straightforward reasons. gravity's rainbow seems like it was strained through the multiverse of everything, everywhere, all at once and spit out linearly fractalized. it's challenging to say the least. tolkien, on the other hand, i found so boring as to never have been able to finish even a fraction of any of his books.
nkrisc 4y ago
Having read about half of LOTR when I was a kid, then seeing the movie trilogy, to reading it now to my son, I have to say I actually enjoy it more having seen the movie already. Knowing the general plot from the movie makes reading everything that happens in between the major story beats much more interesting since I have a sense of where in the story we are. It’s also fun to notice the differences when they adapted the story for the screen. I’ve also told my son the general plot several times beforehand (when he wanted me to tell him a story and I couldn’t think of any other) and I think he’s much more into it because of that as well. He knows where we are overall and what generally comes next.

itronitron 4y ago

They probably did not read it. I've read the first third of the book, at some point I'll make another attempt. Pynchon's writing style is rather interesting in that reading it, for me at least, requires dedicated concentration for multiple pages until the point when I get 'sucked into' the book and then it flows. The only person I know that has read through it did so on a road trip and just plowed through without trying to make sense of entire chapters. Gravity's Rainbow is also more challenging because it spans a lot of different characters and subplots. The Crying of Lot 49 is much easier, and Vineland is an aberration. I know one person who thinks that Pynchon hired a ghost writer for Vineland because the writing style is so different.

mason55 4y ago
> Pynchon's writing style is rather interesting in that reading it, for me at least, requires dedicated concentration for multiple pages until the point when I get 'sucked into' the book and then it flows Yeah, my problem was that I'd get into the flow when there was action and things happening, and then zone out during the more descriptive/sensationalist passages, but not zone back in until I'd missed a bunch more action. I tried just reading it without worrying if I was zoning in and out but I found that I was missing so much that it wasn't holding my interest. I loved the book when I was able to really sit and focus hard on what I was reading but at the moment most of my reading happens in bed as I'm falling asleep and it's just not the kind of book that works for me for that kind of reading. Hopefully some day.
beebmam 4y ago
What is it like reading Pynchon translated into other languages? Has anyone done this before?
- hackandthink 4y ago
  I enjoyed the german translation of Gravity's rainbow. Elfriede Jelinek (one of the translators) is a famous austrian writer (though I don't like her plays). Quite a few years later I tried "Mason & Dixon" in English and gave up after maybe 20 pages. I bought the german translation and gave up after maybe 50 pages.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

mobb_solo 4y ago

Pynchon isn't "difficult". Try getting stoned before reading.

ericmcer 4y ago

I read it but was possessed by a certain motivation that I have never had for another book. Ulysses and Infinite Jest have both beaten me multiple times and I doubt I could finish GR again. It was just a stars aligning moment where headspace and lifestyle and beliefs all combined to make it an enjoyable read.