V Group Read - tentative schedule

[Joseph Tracy]

Been real busy lately. Will take chapter 5, but I will have to  
prepare it early as that time is very busy with a summer teaching  
gig. So it may be mildly  out of sync with the interpretation of the  
early chapters  but what the hey.

Let's keep in mind that V is where Pynchon's  foray into his unique  
literary vision/enterprise/POV  begins. It could really add dimension  
to this group read if we ask questions or make propositions at the  
front end and see how they hold up.

  I have only read V once, borrowed from the local library. It was my  
2nd P novel, but I will start with a vague hypothesis/question that  
combines the yo-yo, the street and the letter V.  Instead of what  
goes up must come down, suppose we reverse the pattern by attaching a  
string or narrative line to the middle finger with a yo- yo at the  
other end,  and assume instead  that what goes down must come up, but  
on a spinning planet, never in the same place. In Pynchon stories,  
most characters must go down into an underground world. For Pynchon  
this pattern is explicit and structurally embedded and even  appears  
in the letter V. The pattern goes back to egypt, greece, tribal  
peoples etc. It's a mainstay of world lit. Is Pynchon's handling of  
this pattern unique? How? Are V and GR connected in a big sine wave?




On May 28, 2010, at 1:11 PM, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:

> Was all that election fervor for naught?  I think we should at  
> least have commitments for the first six chapters before we start  
> the read.  Any takers?
>
> Tentative schedule (we can always adjust back or forwards).   
> Allowing 3 weeks, 2 hosts for chapters of 50 or more pages:
>
> 6/14-6/27 - Chap. 1 - Mark Kohut
>
> 6/28 -7/11 - Chap. 2 - Laura Kelber
>
> 7/12 - 7/25 - Chap. 3 - Ian Livingston
>
> 7/26 - 8/8 - Chap. 4 -
>
> 8/9 - 8/22 - Chap. 5 -
>
> 8/23- 9/5 - Chap. 6 -
>
> 9/6 - 9/26 - Chap. 7 - (3 weeks, 2 hosts)
>
> 9/27 - 10/10 - Chap. 8 -
>
> 10/11 - 10/31 - Chap. 9 (3 weeks, 2 hosts)
>
> 11/1 - 11/14 - Chap. 10 -
>
> 11/15 - 12/5 - Chap. 11 (3 weeks, 2 hosts)
>
> 12/6 - 12/19 - Chap. 12 -
>
> Winter break
>
> 1/10 - 1/23 - Chap. 13 -
>
> 1/24 - 2/6 - Chap. 14 - Page
>
> 2/7 - 2/20 - Chap. 15 -
>
> 2/21 - 3/6 - Chap. 16 -
>
> 3/7 - 3/20 - Epilogue