I'm feeling quite pleased with myself. I bought V on Amazon just now along with some other books i'll never read but thats another matter.

Thing is, I have Gravity's Rainbow and have shockingly never finished it (or got very far into it) so I am in a dilemma. I'm very keen to read GR but should I read V first or what?

Anyone with any insight into which is the least confusing of the two?

V, but it is reasonably close, both can be seriously heavy going.

A Pynchon thread from the old board.

Read "The Crying of Lot 49" - a very inventive (and short for Pynchon) first novel.

Never read V, but what I did with Gravity's Rainbow was read 200 pages, become hopelessly confused, then go back to the beginning and read the whole thing. It really helped. Still couldn't explain what it's about, but I enjoyed it.

Okay so its been 4 days since I started re-reading Gravity's Rainbow, got gradually further than last time. On page 35 now. I have to take it really slowly and decode every line before I can move on.

Though when you finally twig what the buck toothed get is on about it's all worthwhile. If I ever tackle this, and then V I will go for Crying Lot. Short would be much appreciated.

meltdowngraphics wrote:

QUOTE:
Read "The Crying of Lot 49" - a very inventive (and short for Pynchon) first novel.

The Crying of Lot 49 was not his first--V was.

V
Crying of Lot 49
Gravity's Rainbow
Vineland
Mason & Dixon
Against the Day

Plus the stories in Slow Learner

Read all but Against the Day. I think V is slower going than Gravity's Rainbow. Stick with Gravity's Rainbow--it's completely worth it.

So to summarise: Read all of his books in some order. Will do.

Read on a bit with Gravity's Rainbow last night. It really is excellent but I might have to keep a plan to remind myself what the main plot is.

I meant that I've read all of his books, not that you have to.

Oh sorry, I am not as attentive as I should be really. Twice i've read 'read' as (phonetically) reed instead of red. It can get quite confusing.

I've recently finished Vineland and thought it was OK but I think, fundamentally, I mustn't have actually "got it", because it just seemed like a bit of a spaced out ultra-complex shaggy dog story somewhat influenced by Murukami-like Japanese fiction.

Mason & Dixon's the only other one I read, and although it took a very, very long time to read, I absolutely loved it.

I have wondered, though, how on earth Pynchon ever got published to start with. What kind of publisher starts reading one of these insane manuscripts and thinks there's actually a decent market for it?