Today it begins — our first few steps on “The Gravity’s Rainbow Deathmarch.” And I will admit the obvious — that I’m a little intimidated by this old book. But I can share this as well: the last two days, I went off on a little scouting mission — read the first few pages — read them aloud to my better half, in fact, while she tried to sleep. And dang if they weren’t entertaining. At least to me. I had no idea there were so many ways to prepare a banana.
Let’s make the target for this week a touch shy of 50 pages — we’ll make camp at page 47 and the line “time for home.” [update: this is page 54 in the Bantam edition]
If any of youse have any other words orf wisdom regarding the first handful of pages, or good natured advice for your fellow marchers, please use this entry as an open thread fer shoutin’ out.
Thanks and gulp and see you next Tuesday and…here we go,
-Cecil
(For those hearing about this for the first time, you can find all the details — the gameplan, the prizes, the whole sheebang, by going to “The Gravity’s Rainbow Deathmarch” category page. In short, around 20-30 of us are going to try to read this thing in roughly 50 page chunks/week. And for them that make it through and drop a comment here most weeks, there will be glory, and yes, the possibility of a free Pat Benatar CD and/or a mug. All are welcome — Gravity’s Rainbow loves company.)
if you’re thirsty, a random pynchon factoid that doesn’t skimp on the mustard.
Pynchon’s sister Judith taught at Suffolk Community College and a colleague asked her, ‘What’s your brother likely to be doing right now?’ and she said ‘Watching The Brady Bunch.’
for those interested, there is Pynchon-inspired Artwork at the Whitney, March 11-May 30, 2004. Whitney Biennial, NYC.
I enjoyed the banana frappes. Blend them down some more with the unexplained acronyms, and you’ve got yourself a nice hearty soup — even if you don’t know what it means.
Another pagination reference help I found online: http://members.aol.com/russillosm/grindex.html
As for the pagination, I will pilfer directly and shamelessly from Tim Ware’s page: “The page numbers refer to the original Viking editions (1973), paperback and hardback, and to the Penguin edition (1987). To get the Bantam edition (1974) page numbers, multiply the page numbers by 1.15 for the first third of the book, 1.16 for the second third, and 1.17 for the last third. This is approximate but should work.”
CM wrote:
“Hi, I think we might need to figure on some of the differing page counts, as mentioned in an earlier post….I think I’ve found the matching section on Pg 54 of my edition.”
Cool — how bout I’ll check with you before I post on Tuesdays and you can give me the matching page number for your edition…. I’ll go update this entry with page 54 for bantam folks.
Btw, I remember that cover you described — it’s my fave for nostalgic reasons — that’s the cover on the very copy that kept stopping me at page 5. Well, I’m on page 12. So who’s laughing now, bantam edition?
-CV
btw, there is a GR glossary of terms at:
http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/gravity/index.html
oh, the whitney art exhibit was in 2004. whoops, sorry.
I’m on page 3 now. So I’m already further than I expected to get in a book without pictures or popups.
The apocalyptic, nightmarish ride that these people are on seems like the perfect metaphor for those of us on this here deathmarch, doncha think? Also: I like donuts.
I’m coming late to this game, but at the request of the Head Marcher, I’m posting the email I sent to announce my quiet accession to the Marching Squad:
> Dear X —
>
> At the opening of one of the chapters of “V,” there’s a sentence that
> has always stuck with me. It goes something like this (I’m quoting from
> memory, and haven’t seen it in 15 years, so this is likely at least a
> bit inaccurate):
>
> The only way to describe how she walked was a kind of brave,
> sensual trudging, as if she were nose-deep in snowdrifts and
> yet en route to meet a lover.
>
> That made me like Pynchon enough to try to read “Gravity’s Rainbow.”
>
> There’s a similarly remarkable bit of descriptive prose in “Gravity’s
> Rainbow,” though it’s remarkable for very different reasons. While it
> wasn’t enough to put me off the book — I was already leaning that way
> — it probably helped, and it was certainly enough to put me off my
> lunch, which was a hunk of sausage, a hunk of bread, and a dollop of
> mustard, arranged neatly on a small, rectangular paper plate and
> purchased during a one-minute stop at a train station somewhere in the
> Czech countryside. Memory and manners don’t permit me to recollect that
> passage here, other to say that it includes the unforgettable phrase
> “… chewing thickly now …”
>
> If you didn’t get that far the last time — it sounds like you didn’t —
> you’ll know what I’m talking about when we get there this time.
>
> Anyway, at Y’s behest, and a bit belatedly, I’m in. I look forward
> to helping make this the bravest, most sensual Death March possible.
>
> -Charlie
ok just a post to let you guys know I’m in not sure why only on page 6 in the penguin edtion but here we go…..
Dear Cecil,
Only a few days in and I must report an obstructionist family member who resents my new hobby. Kitty, as I like to call her, is about the same size as the Rainbow but much faster, and my lap cannot accommodate them both. Now you know no one can hold the GR aloft for more than a second or two on account of the G, so I’m having to improvise, and what I’d like to know is how many Watchtowers and Safeway circulars and CD covers will it take to make up the difference if I’m only on p.4 come Tuesday? Signed, Worried in Week One
Made it, all the way to the break at 53 or 54 (I forget), Viking edition. But I’ve been to 150 twice before, so this proves nothing. I’m lovin’ it, though “getting” it only some of the time. It’s very cinematic and impressionistic, reminds me of that Woody Allen parody of Fellini at times (stardust memories). Or maybe it’s the train at the beginning… As long as I feel like I’m tracking the storyline, I’ve decided not to care if I don’t understand why the director placed a certain object on a certain spot. It’s odd that he doesn’t really describe the appearance of most of the characters, and there are so many of them that it’s hard to keep them straight. I think that’s what bogged me down in the past, reading slowly and losing track. If we can keep up a decent pace maybe momentum will triumph!
At page 30 now, which is prolly 25 pages farther than I’ve made it before. Enjoying this 5-7 pages/day pace so far. Trying to read it a little like poetry.
Been great to see so many folks posting already….
Speaking of which, Captain Marsupial had a helpful post early on that somehow got deleted. It had some useful links in it. Here’s a repost:
“Hi, I think we might need to figure on some of the differing page counts, as mentioned in an earlier post. I’ve got the bantam paperback edition. Sort of gold colored with an airplane (Not a rocket!) trailing a pastel rainbow. Pg 47 for me ends a section with Roger & Jessica (Rabbit?) and Pg 48 starts a section with some Russians.
I think I’ve found the matching section on Pg 54 of my edition. In referrents online it’s referred to as section 1.7. There’s some talk about Spectro, a book, Pointsman, and then Jessica falling asleep while in a car. The next section goes into St. Veronica’s hospital. Is this it?
Anyway, a few items I looked up (But god knows you couldn’t look them all up) A maisonette is a 2-story apartment, often w/ it’s own entrance; Corydon (as in Throsp) means “Ready for war,” and was also the name of a gay pastoral character in a Roman book-fictional, but a mention of him being an acquaintance of the Rossettis’, (English painter Dante Rossetti); Ft. Lamy is in Chad; B.O.Q.-Bachelor Officers Quarters; a V2 rocket is also referred to as an A4 Aggregat-4; An Adenoid is the lump of lymphoid tissue between the tonsils, higher up in the back of the mouth, and it is located right behind the nose.
Questions, points of discussion. Is “Pirate” Prentice from Gilbert & Sullivan, Pirates of Penzance? (‘prenticed to a pirate); I can’t find out why a British Army Officer’s servant is called a batman; Who are the people at the beginning of the book, and where are they?
If other folks know what specific references are, I’m always interested in knowing. But if it gets too top-heavy, I’m willing to chuck it.
I found what appears to be the whole book online: http://de.geocities.com/geri130162/pyv2000q.htm
-Enjoying the book. C.M.”
Here’s a link to an article in today’s Washington Post that talks about how animals were able to sense the earthquake and tsunami and fled for high ground. Just what they were looking for at the White Visitation, I think…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57653-2005Jan7.html
No preconceptions with reading this thing–never read Pynchon at all before. Possibly wise…
Bananas were brilliant, as was the little expedition after the dog. Loved the image of eating breakfast after seeing the rocket on the way in.
The absurd touches are a bit crude (ACHTUNG). If there’s too much more of that sort of thing, this risks being 750 pages of a Vonnegut novel. Been there, won’t go there again.
The prose is a weighty obstacle–not because it’s difficult, but because it’s so thumping heavily self-conscious. Can a strong enough story emerge to overcome the writer’s manipulative excesses? Dunno. Will keep reading.
I HAVE too read a few pages (reading marathon to commence this evening) but the thing that’s captured my imagination so far is the dedication page. Anybody remember “Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me”? Wondering about Pynchon’s connection to Richard Farina (with a tilde over the n) is the major impression of this redoubtable novel so far.
Hey B,
I knew I’d seen something on this. Here’s the inside story from the Powell’s text for the book: “Gravity’s Rainbow is dedicated to Richard Farina, a young writer Pynchon met at Cornell whose promising literary career was cut short by a fatal motorcycle accident.”
Brief comments after 50 or so pages (’cause I want to stay in contention for those fabulous prizes): I’m finding it hard to follow/remember who is who sometimes; in general I’m going for the overall wash and trying not to get bogged down catching EVERY detail. I really like the reoccurrence of the rainbow theme. I guess I’m doing OK, but I don’t feel over any humps yet – I could put this down (but, of course, I won’t). Hope everyone else is hanging in…
Dan D. wrote:
“this risks being 750 pages of a Vonnegut novel. Been there, won’t go there again. ”
Who would have thought my beloved Kurt would be the first victim of the deathmarch….? Ah well. No one said this would be pretty. Onward!
What the hell have I gotten myself into?
Not a Vonnegut novel. I could smell one of those two miles off; I was almost as immersed in that V as Pynchon’s back in the day. No, this can’t be mistaken for Mr. Trout.
This is a huge mistake, but those are the ones I’m best at.
Copyeditor Note of the Week: Isn’t Milton Gloaming the county seat of Sussex?
CE Note of the Week II: 1944 was the Great Aspinwall Train Wreck. There’s no sign that there was ever a “Great” fire there, let alone specifically in 1931. So the dates, if not the names, have been changed to protect the innocents.
Amazing Fact: I encountered the word “Montenegran” twice in this same week (p.14 and Friday’s NY Times crossword).
A screaming has come across my brain. To survive the march, I’m just trying to read and enjoy Pynchon’s prose sentence to sentence. Excessive. Self conscious. And at times, flashes of brilliance that remind me of what all the fuss is about. But I’m already believing that if I’m going to survive the march, I’ve got to let go of trying to make sense of the storytelling, or lack thereof, going on here. Tom isn’t all that interested in building a coherent story. Published in ’73. Hmmm, wonder what he was doing in the late ’60’s when he was getting down the GR bones?
The recent book, Positively Fourth Street, about Bob Dylan and Joan Baez and Richard Fariña and Mimi Fariña in the Village in the sixties, which I haven’t read, apparently features Pynchon prominently as a character or a source, so I guess we all know about old king cole.
I did read Positively Fourth Street, and Pynchon does indeed have a few prominent appearances. The most interesting thing to me was to discover that (gosh!) he is actually a real human being with thoughts/fears/ambitions as a writer and person like all the rest of us.
Also, if you haven’t read Bob Dylan’s “Chronicles,” you should, like, now. Even if you don’t like Dylan, it’s a fantastic book. Or at least as fantastic as books get for me that don’t have pop-ups or coloring pages.