https://www.internationalpynchonweek.org/conference-program?fbclid=IwAR3fAQX-rs2SbFbi-oax4yvXGTyCYuyh-ev5MGDesy5-WfnJnXT4RdWHoz8

[Erik T. Burns]

I'll confess to having read Vineland maybe twice, Inherent Vice only once,
and Bleeding Edge only once. None of them seemed to demand a second look. I
read Against the Day when it came out, then listened to it. Read Mason &
Dixon when it came out, and read it again a couple of years ago. Read V.
probably four times (and even went to Valetta on vacation once just
because), read the Slow Learner stories many, many times, The Crying of Lot
49 too many times to count, and ... Gravity's Rainbow so many times it's
almost embarrassing. Also listened to that glorious George Guidall
audiobook of it in the samizdat, hissing version. And went through that
book of "what happens on every page." So, yeah, no. Gravity's Rainbow is
the one. I fully appreciate anyone who has trouble getting started or who
gives up or who hates every word. That's fine, it's not for everyone and,
at my advanced age, I am finished with proselytizing [aside from this note,
natch]. Read whatever you like to read, don't read things just because *I*
like them. It's the same way with my real obsession, William Gaddis. At
least with TRP there is a bustling and active listserv (this one, let's be
clear!) and, ahem, ongoing interest. [Also for the record, with WG,
Sophie's choice is J R over The Recognitions; fight me.]

On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 10:26 PM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> Jerky, my friend,
>
> You and I are built very differently, it seems to me (which surprises me):
>
>  I held back when you stated:
>
> *“Mason & Dixon, for example, is arguably the superior work [to GR].”*
>
> Were you begging for an argument, I wondered?  And then you said, “it took
> me well over 20 false starts with Gravity's Rainbow.”  And I thought,
> “Oh! *special
> needs.*” 😝
>
> And then you said, “it took me about a half dozen runs at V. to get past
> "that" chapter.”  And I figured, “Well, the first step…”
>
> As for ATD, I’m just finishing my second read, and am enjoying it, but also
> of a double mind (which fits, if you have Icelandic Spar spectacles).  I’ve
> been a bit impatient with it, because I truly believe it needed a strict
> editor to force Pynchon to reduce it by about 1/3 it’s length.  But it is
> richly written, and it has a cast of well-developed characters.  If the
> goal was an encompassing science-spiritual-existential-political structure,
> I think it constantly pokes at those things, but never with anything near
> conclusiveness.  Lots of hopeful speculations, but also with a gentle
> cynicism.
>
> But it’s far better than BE (and VL, and IV, and COL49) if that is of any
> relief.  And if this group was willing to take on MD, I’d be all the way
> in.
>
> *David Morris*
>
> On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 5:44 PM Mark Thibodeau <jerkyleboeuf at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Man, I hate to admit this, but I have yet to read Against the Day.
> >
> > I just can't wrap my head around the basic identity of the thing if that
> > makes any sense, and that's something I kind of need to be able to do
> with
> > a novel before I tackle the actual reading part.
> >
> > Also, I'm not the brightest bulb in the marquee, so while I read Lot 49,
> > Vineland and Inherent Vice without difficulty, it took me about a half
> > dozen runs at V. to get past "that" chapter (Stencil's quick change
> > chapter), it took me well over 20 false starts with Gravity's Rainbow
> (and
> > now I know the first fifty pages or so by heart), about the same for
> Mason
> > & Dixon. As for Bleeding Edge, I quit at the third awful sex scene, and
> > have yet to get back to it. I realize the group read would have been a
> good
> > opportunity to fill that Pynchonian lacuna, but I just had too much going
> > on when y'all started.
> >
> > Jerky
> >
> > Jerky
> >
> > On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 9:50 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Agreed.
> > >
> > > And *Against the Day* is the largest and richest of all. But not as
> > > perfect as those two.
> > >
> > > Mark
> > >
> > > On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 9:42 AM Mark Thibodeau <jerkyleboeuf at gmail.com
> >
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > >> Agreed.
> > >>
> > >> Pynchon has masterworks to spare. And GR has already been thoroughly
> > >> explored.
> > >>
> > >> Mason & Dixon, for example, is arguably the superior work.
> > >>
> > >> Jerky
> > >>
> > >> On Thu., Mar. 24, 2022, 9:35 a.m. rich, <richard.romeo at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> program is interesting in GR is hardly the subject of any, if at all,
> > >>> which
> > >>> is a good thing
> > >>>
> > >>> rich
> > >>>
> > >>> On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 4:22 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > >>>
> > >>> >
> > >>> >
> > >>>
> >
> https://www.internationalpynchonweek.org/conference-program?fbclid=IwAR3fAQX-rs2SbFbi-oax4yvXGTyCYuyh-ev5MGDesy5-WfnJnXT4RdWHoz8
> > >>> > --
> > >>> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> > >>> >
> > >>> --
> > >>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> > >>>
> > >>
> > --
> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>