A new Pynchon fan and Gravity's Rainbow...

[Paul Mackin]

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From: 	MESCOLAR[SMTP:MESCOLAR at peddie.k12.nj.us]
Sent: 	Monday, March 10, 1997 3:59 PM
To: 	MASCARO at humnet.ucla.edu; pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: 	A new Pynchon fan and Gravity's Rainbow...

          I am slightly new to Pynchon (having only read 49 and
          Vineland) but it seems to me that GR is his masterpiece.
          Reading all these posts leaves me both scared of the book
          and intrigued.  Any advice on how to get through the book
          without getting too discouraged??


>>>>Well, my advice would be to focus at first on the surface language and deliberately ignore the story line and plot. This might be accomplished best by skipping around randomly, reading ten pages, then moving to another part of the book. And, if what you're seeing on the page at the moment seems too opaque, don't dwell on it, move elsewhere.. Only when, at last you've got a good feel for the characters, go back and take it from the beginning--where a screaming comes across the sky . . . 

	
Please don't think I'm saying that GR has no beginning, middle, and end. It's not THAT much of an anti-novel. But the linearity is too daunting at first. Latter there will be plenty of reader expectations to be met.

				P.