Iām on part 3 now (page 300ish) and Iām really enjoying it. Love all the connections he makes between science, statistics, the occult and human experience. I got quite nerdy in the bit where he describes the use of an analogue integrator circuit and an accelerometer to trigger Brennschluss in the rocket when it has reached its burn target. I feel like Iām in the presence of someone who spends a lot of time thinking deeply about everything.
You can stop and savour the writing - nearly every sentence seems carefully crafted. Or you can plough through not really understanding it but still getting a sense of whatās going on.
Iāve really slacked off, youāve pulled way ahead! Iām at 240 still, recent thoughts
Totally loved: everything with Slothrop and Katje to open Part 2, was weird and fun - plus the almost buddy comedy parts with the other men he was with. Could basically be a great self contained little story even without what came before
up to page 330, just gonna use this thread to hold myself accountable for my progress tbh
the opening of Part 3 is stunning:
We are safely past the days of the Eis-Heiligen - St. Pancratius, St. Servatius, St. Bonifacius, die kalte Sophie ā¦ they hover in clouds above the vineyards, holy beings of ice, ready with a breath, an intention, to ruin the year with frost and cold. In certain years, especially War years, they are short on charity, peevish, smug in their power: not quite saintly or even Christian. The prayers of growers, pickers and wine enthusiasts must reach them, but thereās no telling how the ice-saints feel - coarse laughter, pagan annoyance, who understands this rear-guard who preserve winter against the revolutionaries of May?
They found the countryside, this year, at peace by a scant few days. Already vines are beginning to grow back over dragonās teeth, fallen Stukas, burned tanks. The sun warms the hillsides, the rivers fall bright as wine. The saints have refrained. Nights have been mild. The frost didnāt come. It is the spring of peace. The vintage, God granting at least a hundred days of sun, will be fine.
Most of my Pynchon books are those covers. There are others I prefer, but theyāre alright ay they. Though weirdly on my Against the Day, the image is like peeling off and it looks really odd.
There was a section on @anon18868718ās last podcast btw providing a bit of extra context on some of the dodgy corporate goings-on during WW2 that GR goes into:
I found the Pƶkler chapter really fascinating. A V2 engineer looking back on his life, full of atrocious acts, with the aim to build a weapon of mass destruction. But he distorts his own narrative to make himself out to have been a decent person. After the war several rocket scientists reinvented themselves in just this way and went to work in America, and the US authorities glossed over their Nazi past.
Also seems to have parallels with the way Slothrop takes on a series of personas, having literally lost his identity in France.
Iām on page 450 and I am really enjoying it but Iāve reached that stage where Iāve been reading it for so long now that itās making me kind of resent how much of my life itās taken up and all the other books on my to-read pile are staring at me resentfullyā¦
I donāt think itās helped by the fact that my edition has tiny and slightly blurred typeface which means, on a purely mechanical level, itās not easy to read. Iām using reading as a break from the being-constantly-squinting-at-a-screen-ness of lockdown life but itās not much of a break for my poor old eyes to be honest.
That said, I am massively enjoying the writing. Had no idea how much farce and general nonsense was involved. Love the way in which it can swing into complete absurdity from being serious and back again.
yeah I keep considering reading something short and easy to break GR up, but then that will just make the whole exercise take even longer, and make me even more likely to give up entirely. The one advantage is that sometimes it feels like about 4 books in one
Yeah I think Iād totally lose momentum if I did that. I worry already that stuff I read from the beginning is beginning to fade.
What the hell happened to that Pirate Prentice chap? The one with all the bananas? Was so sure he was going to be the protagonist and havenāt seen any mention of him for about 300 pages.
at this point, if itās not Slothrop, I just treat everyone as a brand new character - and if I happen to eventually remember that they were integral to the first 100 pages then thatās just a bonus
made it to page 500, really been struggling lately. Not with content or quality at all, but itās just so much, does feel like homework at times
I didnāt want to get distracted by other books by now Iām feeling like reading something short and punchy in between each Part might have been a decent idea just as a palate cleanser ā¦
The part on Beethoven and Rossini was hilarious though
Iām on the home straight now (640ish). Itās a massive undertaking and I feel like Iāve only scratched the surface on a single read. I keep getting diverted into looking things up and finding massive academic essays on the themes of the novel. Some of these are a bit up themselves, but others have enhanced my enjoyment.
Really glad I took the plunge though. It has been a rewarding experience, if frustrating at times.
Pretty impossible to rate. I get the feeling I wonāt really have a grip on just how I feel about this book until I re-read it and I also feel like this may never happen: life is too short. Some of the writing is right up there with the very best prose Iāve ever read and yet the whole thing felt like a slog as a whole: a bit like a massive banquet made up of nothing but chocolate truffles - rich and luxurious but overwhelming and a bit sickening taken as a whole.
Massively didnāt help that the edition I was reading had size 0 font and after a full day of eye-strain teaching looking at a screen the last thing I needed was squinting at tiny smudged letters.
Off to read Jenny Hvalās āParadise Rotā now. Itās soā¦ short!
