6 ms·
From Thomas Pynchon, a novel of the dot-com era and the end of history
- mindrag 13y agoIs that article actually in English? I couldn't understand a damn thing the author was trying to say. "...like a black pearl from an oyster unfathomable by any other diver into our eternal souls." What?
- tlb 13y agoThe reviewer is indulging in Pynchon-esque language here. Pynchon is hard to read, and people still debate the meaning of his books. You might enjoy them if you let go of expecting every sentence to make logical sense.
- briancaw2 13y agohttp://www.slate.com/authors.troy_patterson.html http://www.slate.com/authors.troy_patterson.html
- jonnathanson 13y agoPynchon is a lyricist and a madman, and he's damned good at being both. I wince when I read others trying to cop his style, even if momentarily. Troy Patterson is good, often really good, but he sounds fake here.
- derleth 13y ago> I wince when I read others trying to cop his style, even if momentarily. The same is true for me when people try to copy Faulkner, or James Joyce, or Hunter Thompson, or, from another angle, Hemingway.
- hvs 13y agoWelcome to modern literature. If you can understand what they are saying, then it isn't any good. It's like abstract art applied to words.
- Yourfags 13y agoit's delightful!
- youredelightful 13y ago
- yolesaber 13y agoExcept that the current vogue in modern literature is hyper-realist memoiristic writing which eschews the Moderist approach of purpled prose in favor of more intimate relations between characters without overbearing literary flourishes e.g. Jonathan Franzen
- ryanklee 13y agoLike Yolesaber suggests, this is a gross mis-characterization. You need to read more and more widely. It's no longer 1935. And even then, at the height of modernism, a wide spectrum existed. Edit: Obviously, reading literature is an entirely optional activity. I don't mean to suggest that you are obligated to do so. Only that to be familiar with the subjects that one makes claims about isn't such a horrible idea.
- percentcer 13y agoYou left out "glinting rich and strange", which helps to make sense of "into our eternal souls". Black pearls are rare with a somewhat subjective beauty, "unfathomable" can be interpreted literally in the analogy but also holds its normal meaning, and "any other diver" refers to any author but Pynchon.
- saraid216 13y ago> "unfathomable" can be interpreted literally in the analogy but also holds its normal meaning Near as I can tell without reading the article, this sentence uses "unfathomable" with all of its meanings. Which I find nifty.
- lovemenot 13y agoFor this to work beautifully, we would fathom pearls when finding or collecting them. afaik only depths of water can be the literal object of the verb to fathom. It doesn't quite succeed, here. Which is likely why Pynchon is celebrated and the reviewer is reviewing him, rather than the reverse.
- saraid216 13y agoThe fathoming happens inside the pearl.
- nealabq 13y agoThe author is riffing on Shakespeare: Full fathom five thy father lies; Of his bones are coral made; Those are pearls that were his eyes; Nothing of him that doth fade, But doth suffer a sea-change Into something rich and strange. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_Fathom_Five_%28Tempest%29#.22Full_Fathom_Five.22 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_Fathom_Five_%28Tempest%29#...
- cgh 13y agoA new Pynchon is huge news. And contrary to what some posters here seem to believe, he's not hard to understand, other than certain passages in "Gravity's Rainbow" in which even he apparently doesn't remember what he was talking about. I think a lot of people are simply thrown by his constantly shifting perspectives from one character to another and his weird humour. Plus he has a technical background so he throws a lot of offhand engineering references in there. I recommend starting with "The Crying of Lot 49", then "V." Both are amazing and both were written when he was quite young (20s). "V." in particular is a stupendous debut novel. I've read it twice and both times I felt a sort of buzz that lasted for a few days, a sure sign I've read something meaningful in some sense (to me, anyway).
- FreakLegion 13y agoV. is one of my favorite novels. To anyone not already familiar with Pynchon: If you like Neal Stephenson, give Pynchon a shot.
- dnr 13y agoV. is a disjoint "novel" with parts cobbled together from short stories. I wouldn't recommend it as a first (even though it was my first). Instead, try Vineland. It has a more or less straightforward plot and is quite entertaining. Plus some absolutely brilliant passages. Here's an apropos one: "If patterns of ones and zeros were 'like' patterns of human lives and deaths, if everything about an individual could be represented in a computer record by a long string of ones and zeros, then what kind of creature would be represented by a long string of lives and deaths? It would have to be up one level at least -- an angel, a minor god, something in a UFO. It would take eight human lives and deaths just to form one character in this being's name -- its complete dossier might take up a considerable piece of the history of the world. We are digits in God's computer, she not so much thought as hummed to herself to a sort of standard gospel tune, And the only thing we're good for, to be dead or to be living, is the only thing He sees. What we cry, what we contend for, in our world of toil and blood, it all lies beneath the notice of the hacker we call God."
- MaysonL 13y ago
- xradionut 13y agoThe review is like a thesaurus full of pretense took acid, gorged at a buffet and then purged on a Scrabble board. Hopefully the book is better.
- Gnolfo 13y agoThat's Pynchon. You're describing Pynchon. At least some of the time, and FWIW the reviewer definitely seems to get him & his style. The 8th paragraph in there is an excerpt from the new book, you'll notice it is 3 sentences, and the 3rd sentence begins about 10-15% of the way in and the 2nd sentence is a mere 8 words. This is typical and there are times where you will stop and take 5+ minutes to review and unpack and digest a single sentence of his when he's really digging his heels in. The payoff however can be absolutely immense.
- wahnfrieden 13y agoIf you're into the long sentences thing, try Laszlo Krasznahorkai: http://www.amazon.com/The-Melancholy-Resistance-Laszlo-Krasznahorkai/dp/0811215040 http://www.amazon.com/The-Melancholy-Resistance-Laszlo-Krasz... , http://www.amazon.com/Satantango-L%C3%A1szl%C3%B3-Krasznahorkai/dp/0811217345 http://www.amazon.com/Satantango-L%C3%A1szl%C3%B3-Krasznahor... Sometimes sentences span pages. Each chapter is a single paragraph. The movie adaptations are fantastic too.
- scotch_drinker 13y agoOr Faulkner. Where the sentences span entire generations and a single moment.
- robterrell 13y agoI'm a big fan of Mason & Dixon, which was the most difficult fun I've had reading a book in English. Gravity's Rainbow was also great fun. If you're a Buckaroo Banzai fan, and why wouldn't you be, you can thank Pynchon for the defense contractor Yoyodyne, which was appropriated from his novel V.
- dbuder 13y agoPynchon is really worth the effort, V. and Gravity's Rainbow aren't that hard to read, I assume the hate is from people who haven't taken the time to read him. Not for the airplane.