From Thomas Pynchon, a novel of the dot-com era and the end of history
1–10 of 32 posts
Re: From Thomas Pynchon, a novel of the dot-com era and the end of history
#2Is that article actually in English? I couldn't understand a damn thing the author was trying to say.
"...like a black pearl from an oyster unfathomable by any other diver into our eternal souls."
What?
Re: From Thomas Pynchon, a novel of the dot-com era and the end of history
#3Is that article actually in English? I couldn't understand a damn thing the author was trying to say. "...like a black pearl from an oyster unfathomable by any other diver into our eternal souls." What?
The reviewer is indulging in Pynchon-esque language here. Pynchon is hard to read, and people still debate the meaning of his books. You might enjoy them if you let go of expecting every sentence to make logical sense.
Re: From Thomas Pynchon, a novel of the dot-com era and the end of history
#4Is that article actually in English? I couldn't understand a damn thing the author was trying to say. "...like a black pearl from an oyster unfathomable by any other diver into our eternal souls." What?
Welcome to modern literature. If you can understand what they are saying, then it isn't any good. It's like abstract art applied to words.
Re: From Thomas Pynchon, a novel of the dot-com era and the end of history
#5Is that article actually in English? I couldn't understand a damn thing the author was trying to say. "...like a black pearl from an oyster unfathomable by any other diver into our eternal souls." What?
The reviewer is indulging in Pynchon-esque language here. Pynchon is hard to read, and people still debate the meaning of his books. You might enjoy them if you let go of expecting every sentence to make logical sense.
Re: From Thomas Pynchon, a novel of the dot-com era and the end of history
#6Is that article actually in English? I couldn't understand a damn thing the author was trying to say. "...like a black pearl from an oyster unfathomable by any other diver into our eternal souls." What?
Welcome to modern literature. If you can understand what they are saying, then it isn't any good. It's like abstract art applied to words.
it's delightful!
Re: From Thomas Pynchon, a novel of the dot-com era and the end of history
#7Re: From Thomas Pynchon, a novel of the dot-com era and the end of history
#8A new Pynchon is huge news. And contrary to what some posters here seem to believe, he's not hard to understand, other than certain passages in "Gravity's Rainbow" in which even he apparently doesn't remember what he was talking about. I think a lot of people are simply thrown by his constantly shifting perspectives from one character to another and his weird humour. Plus he has a technical background so he throws a lot of offhand engineering references in there.
I recommend starting with "The Crying of Lot 49", then "V." Both are amazing and both were written when he was quite young (20s). "V." in particular is a stupendous debut novel. I've read it twice and both times I felt a sort of buzz that lasted for a few days, a sure sign I've read something meaningful in some sense (to me, anyway).
Re: From Thomas Pynchon, a novel of the dot-com era and the end of history
#9Is that article actually in English? I couldn't understand a damn thing the author was trying to say. "...like a black pearl from an oyster unfathomable by any other diver into our eternal souls." What?
You left out "glinting rich and strange", which helps to make sense of "into our eternal souls".
Black pearls are rare with a somewhat subjective beauty, "unfathomable" can be interpreted literally in the analogy but also holds its normal meaning, and "any other diver" refers to any author but Pynchon.
Re: From Thomas Pynchon, a novel of the dot-com era and the end of history
#10Is that article actually in English? I couldn't understand a damn thing the author was trying to say. "...like a black pearl from an oyster unfathomable by any other diver into our eternal souls." What?
Welcome to modern literature. If you can understand what they are saying, then it isn't any good. It's like abstract art applied to words.
Except that the current vogue in modern literature is hyper-realist memoiristic writing which eschews the Moderist approach of purpled prose in favor of more intimate relations between characters without overbearing literary flourishes e.g. Jonathan Franzen