Well, we started this venture with an astounding 35 or so folks out the gate. And inevitably, people are beginning to tumble off the trail. (Well, we wouldn’t call it a deathmarch if it was easy….)
At this rate, by my calculations, -5 people will finish the journey. But what’s math, right? A poor predictor of the human soul.
March on you valiant page turners, though thy arms ache to pluck mysteries from thy sagging bookshelf, though thy very retina begin to shake and swell, march on!
Around 20-25 people appear to be head down, still making progress, some commenting on these threads, and others reading along offline but opting to forsake much coveted Grand Poobah status. I respect that. And I will toast them when the march is done, with fine champagne in a sturdy mug.
For now, you’ve found the spot to comment on pages 113-167 plus or minus.
Next week: Let’s meet up at page 226 (263 in Bantam), a section that ends with the phrase “…with a war on….” (Sorry for the spoiler…)
See you there, -CV
Hi Cecil
Is math really such a poor predictor of the human soul? Is that the question Pynchon’s riffing on here in Part 1? Now that we’re almost through it (most of us, I’m guessing that champagne in mugs means you’ve been reading ahead, C.V.) what do you think it all means? Or even just the title: “Beyond the Zero?”
Two quotes, 0 and 1, with Part 1 maybe the parabola between them?
“Nature does not know extinction: all it knows is transformation. Everything science has taught me, and continues to teach me, strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death”
–Wernher von Braun (1912-1977) Developed the V-2 rockets for the Nazis, later brought to U.S. to work for NASA on the Saturn rocket.
http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/bio.html
“You must ask two questions. First, what is the real nature of synthesis? And then: what is the real nature of control?”
–Walther Rathenau (as channeled by Thomas Pynchon) (1867-1922). Pioneered the corporate management of raw materials for Germany during WW I as Minster of Reconstruction. Prior to that, founder of AEG (the German General Electric). Shot to death by Nazis after being appointed Germany’s first Jewish Foreign Minister.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERrathenau.htm
Beyond the Zero: maybe the binaries lie? Aren’t just wrong, they lie. Beyond Nazis and Allies, the War; beyond life and death, the Interface; beyond Cause and Effect, some more sinister mechanism of synthesis (many made one; manufactured in a lab) and control.
Is mauve the true color of Gravity’s Rainbow?
Meet you at 226 (if we’re not beyond the zero at -5 by then!)
We’ve finally reached the first of several phrases that have stayed with me in the years since I first read GR:
“Now the ghosts crowd beneath the eaves.”
Damnation, that’s some fine writing. Not a letter wasted. Carefully built: with a section break ahead, so it can be read both in context and on its own, and a long sentence fragment following, to lend the sentence far more weight than its length alone would give. A discourse marker (“Now”) to give it not just Scene-level importance, but Act-level or even Story-level significance.
It’s the kind of thing I’ve held up in front of writing workshoppers for years.
Damnation, indeed. It would have been polite of me to include the page number for “Now…”: 138 (Penguin edition).
Hey, where’d my post go? This was meant to be in last week’s, but perhaps I’m too late.
Anyway, it said that I LOVE the sentence “Tire tracks in the slush hvae turned to pearl, mellow pearl.” (115 penguin)
I think it parses: anapeste,anapeste,amphibranch Pearl, anapeste. It sets up so nicely with the alliterative ts and esses of tire tracks in the slush, and falls so easily into a declamation, almost, of mellowed pearls. Really lovely.
And maybe it’s because I’m close-reading for the first time in a while, but the “grease-hazy jar” line on the same page is a great sa-za-ja transition. Neato.
Continuing the favorite-lines-so-far thread, I was particularly partial to this one on page 151 (p):
“…the bright blue gremlins scattering like spiders off of his Typhoon’s wings and falling gently to the woods of The Hague in little parachutes of the same color…”
And not just because, you know, been there, done that.
I should say, however, that my favorite line of the night comes not from the book, but from my 7-year-old daughter who just this minute ran into the room to inform me that “Nuts also has a dog named Gorilla with firey stuff coming out him.” (Nuts is this new doodle character she created tonight.)
Anyways, I really think all my Gravity’s Rainbow reading helped me quickly parse what she was saying. Something about Pavlov I think. And London burning. Or…maybe it’s the London zoo burning?
I’m not quite sure.
In other news, Rodney K. was kind enough to suggest that I’m ahead of target, but truth be told, I’m 10 pages behind. Got on a good 10 pages/night clip the last few days, but then conked out last night at 8 pm and slipped behind. ‘Sok though — I like to have the hounds of deathmarch, nipping nipping, ever nipping.
This week’s pages were a real struggle–well, some of them, anyway, the ones with the endless sentences, you know which ones I’m talking about.
But I did make it, and I have to love myself for that. The upcoming pages look rather easier and appear to feature at least one blowjob, so there’s a reason to carry on.
Yeow! Somehow I lost a week. I guess that’s what I get for trying to read other books while I trying to read this book. Sigh. So much for playtime. back into the thick of it. Hopefully I’ll have another comment that pithy by end of week.
Krispy Kremes are overrated.
“Krispy Kremes are overrated.”
So are donut comments–all hole, no dough.
for some reason i find myself wanting to hire a hooker.
“for some reason i find myself wanting to hire a hooker.”
I think that’s really sweet. The more we can get these unfortunate people off the street and into good, paying jobs, the better!
Boy, it’s great to see the positive effect this book is having on folks.
March on,
-Cecil
Othe Dan, please clarify: You want to hire a hooker for sexual gratification? Or to read aloud to you from “Gravity’s Rainbow” while you eat Krispy Kremes?
Also, does Xian’s usurping of the donut theme mean that Jeff is no more?
ok, it’s not a favorite GR quote, but…i was browsing around a hegel website–in service of the GR, i swear!–when i tripped over a pertinent line.
i believe i can march on, lighter of heart, with these words (purportedly mr. funnyman hegel’s) as my motto:
“One man has understood me, and even he has not.”