How to review _GR_ in five sentences
Heikki Raudaskoski
hraudask at sun3.oulu.fi
Thu Sep 11 13:07:51 CDT 1997
The 12/30/96 review of _Gravitationens Regnbaage_ (the Swedish
translation of _GR_, tr. Hans-Jacob Nilsson. Stockholm: Bonniers
1996) in Hufvustadsbladet, the leading Swedish-language newspaper
in Finland, of high standing, runs as follows (translation mine):
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"The Pynchon Mystery"
*Pynchon, Thomas*, American writer, born 1937 in Long Island,
New York, four novels, short stories. Address: unknown. What
else is there to tell about this extremely recluse writer?
Oh yes, that the only known photo of him was taken in 1953.
Now one more photo of him is said to exist -- taken from behind.
Pynchon is surrounded by a mystic aura. Nobody knows why he
is hiding. Some say that he went crazy after an LSD trip. That
FBI is after him. Even that he does not exist, that the name is
a pseudonym for the almost as recluse J.D. Salinger. But maybe
he just wants to be left alone.
However, it is not only his reclusivity that has given rise
to these speculations, but also his work: four remarkable novels
which find themselves at the boundary between genius and madness.
The first novel *V* (sic) from 1963 gave Pynchon an incredible
breakthrough: he was proclaimed a genius, a cult writer who was
read with almost religious enthusiasm during the hippie epidemic.
In 1973 came out his magnum opus, _Gravity's Rainbow_, now in
Swedish in Hans Jacob Nilsson's skillful translation.
This work with nearly 1000 pages explodes all boundaries of
the novel. It is a black and readily paranoid social satire which
takes place at the final stage of WWII. To make a summary of the
story is impossible: the book has hundreds of characters and even
more narrative threads. Masterfully Pynchon mixes different
narrative technics and stylistic levels, which tries the reader's
patience. In the end, however, this extremely provocative novelistic
experiment feels a little insipid.
Only in 1990 came out the next novel, _Vineland_, by Pynchon's
standards quite a conventional book. And now it is rumored that a
new large-scale work will come out in the spring.
Pynchon is a writer for fanatics: the magazine "Pynchon Notes"
deals exclusively with his authorship. On the Internet there are
numerous Pynchon pages, where one can learn everything about his
work. On the other hand nothing --- besides speculations -- about
the mysterious writer. I suspect that when he dies his biography
will be completed with only one piece of information: his year of
death. If even that.
Oerjan Abrahamsson
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Heikki
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