Thomas Pynchon has a new book coming out. Since I didn't like Mason and Dixon, I am not all that keen. I loved Gravity's Rainbow, but I had hours and hours of time to read it as I was in China with little else to read (this was in '94 mind.) I find lengthy post-modern novels to a be a bad reading investment, these days at least. There is only so much time, and who needs to be confused? Yeah, yeah, I'm not smart enough or whatever, but I just don't have the time to puzzle this sort of thing out. I never had the patience for it in grad school, and I certainly don't while working. You can only read so many novels per year and if it is going to be a long one, it had better be excellent. Here is more on postmodern novels and Pynchon.
Monday, July 24, 2006
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5 comments:
You really liked Gravity's Rainbow? I found it juvenile and offensive. Missile/sex illusions are clever for about 5 minutes.
Coming from a missile expert, I can see that. But yes I did enjoy it.
It struck me as porn, masquerading as surrealism with a Dr. Strangelove twist. (Now there is a good example of sex/military jokes.)
Porn, I say, that's a bit much isn't it? Sure there are some dirty bits, but no more than in other post-WW2 novels, such as Portnoy's Complaint. Lots of sex in that one.
In "The Great War and Modern Memory," which I think won the Nat. Book Award, Paul Fussell presented a well-reasoned take on the thematic role of (deviant) sexuality in Gravity's Rainbow, likening Pynchon to Mailer (The Naked and The Dead) and James Jones (Thin Red Line, From Here to Eternity). Something about the death of romanticism after WWI and the carnage of the Western Front, etc. etc. Hence the whole Brig. Pudding coprophagia/death worship scene. Unlike porn (even that nasty German stuff that Tripp keeps under his bed), it strikes me that the sexual themes in GR are meant to repel rather than titillate.
disclaimer: I also enjoyed Gravity's Rainbow - except for Pynchon's penchant (snicker) for having his characters break into song.
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