Bought this what am i in for? Will be my first Pynchon

I don't know what you're saying.

check this then cocksucker

Attached: 1557589498384.jpg (220x251, 6K)

i found it pretty challenging but ultimately fun

I don't think that answered my question either.

I believe he was saying that he at first became interested in Mason & Dixon thinking it was a serious historical fiction novel, and when he actually started to read it he was surprised by how unserious it actually is.

So my friend would like GR liking Catch-22?

I dunno. I have read five Pynchon books and that doesn’t include Gravity’s Rainbow. I love Catch-22 when I read it and I have loved the majority of Pynchon’s books, but correlations does not necessarily point to causation. Catch-22 was easy to read, apparently Gravity’s Rainbow is Pynchon’s hardest. Who knows man, I would suggest A Confederacy of Dunces for your m8 though.

haven't read it. heard its Pinecone's best other than GR. loved GR, so i'm sure this one is good user.

I would instead give him Inherent Vice, if he's an utter pleb, but if you want a solid entry point into Pynchon, go with V. GR is fucking hard ...even for Pynchon freaks.

I remember Heller saying that by the time GR came out he was still trying to wrap his head around V. GR is definitely a lot more complicated than C22, I enjoy them both immensely but they are very different books and it wouldn't be easy to recommend one on the basis of the other.

>GR
>Complicated

never gonna make it lol

Attached: 015.png (434x327, 37K)

Just read it pleb. It’s funny.

>He's only read it once

haha why are you even here?

Attached: MgFdsd4.jpg (302x270, 22K)

You’re not being funny. You can’t say “you’ve only read it once lol” when in no way possible could you infer the number of times he’s read the book from his post. You literally are not funny.

Attached: Mason and Dixcon.png (674x141, 39K)

Im laughing

Attached: A lit Guide to Pynchon.jpg (1222x3649, 1.52M)

This. GR may be technically superior (I'm not one to say), but M&D is tremendously enjoyable and much more emotionally fulfilling. The archaic style will take a little bit to get used to, but it quickly stops being distracting. This book has everything we love from Pynchon, plus probably the most well-developed main characters the man ever put to paper.

Why do you say that? It's cool to see where Pynchy's coming from, but you could totally appreciate M&D on its own.

>Vineland is arguably his weakest novel and should only really be read by those who are extreme fans of his.
Poor Vineland. Far from his best work, but people act like it's downright bad, and it doesn't deserve that. Vineland has probably my favorite quotable line of Pynchon humor, something like "she elegantly jimmied, or rather Jamesed, the door open."

What should be read in order to understand those references?

what are your thoughts on AtD if you have read it

Literary and historical knowledge on various fields. There are obvious references, Céline's is easy to get; and faint hints to obscure historical events.

why the badger on top?

Absolutely adored AtD. It's not as good as M&D but there's lots of overlap. It has some of Pynchon's silliest scenes (remember when the gang all enrolled in harmonica school?), but the central family drama is really enjoyable on a human level, and there are loads of cool unusual setpieces. Read M&D and GR first, and you'll have no trouble understanding and enjoying most of AtD.

Atd is better as a first Pynchon read

Read sot weed factor after m&d

Knowing about his fictional world helps understand it better, and m&d feels like a continuation of the ideas he put out in GR.

Vineland has amazing dialogue

You can tackle it without delay and reread it again later when you’ve read more, don’t delay - it’s a wonderful novel, enjoy it as it is

Why's that? I adore AtD but it's a ways down the list of what I would give a novice Pynchon reader.

My nigga. TSWF is a hell of a book and it deserves way more attention here, these people can really enjoy it. I haven't read anything else from Barth; got any recs?

>m&d feels like a continuation of the ideas he put out in GR.
Like what? Damn I need to reread GR, can barely formulate any of its ideas.

What do you guys think of V.?
Read it recently as my first Pynchon, liked it a lot but it doesn't seem to get as much attention as his later books. Is it considered to be weaker because it was his first novel?

Attached: 123665b.jpg (1321x2000, 1.05M)

i havnt read any other barth either,
youtu.be/S5tCe-hrToY

tfw im one of the few people that didnt mind reading Vineland
dont AMA

>has literally never read the book

Tell me about the Argentines. What does the Anubis have to do with the plot?

What about the Argentines? They're a group of Ancom refugees and the Anubis is a direct reference to the book of the dead...

Absolutely, GR is just the logical conclusion to Catch 22

I've read v. gr and lot49.
Next is m&d then i'll probably read gaddis' the recognitions

>What do you guys think of V.?
it's great and most people that like pynchon really like V., maybe not as much as GR or M&D but most think it is an excellent and not in any way weak.

It does feel different tho (aside from the African chapter). Someone on here said that while GR is clearly pomo, V. is modernist. While that may not be strictly true it does 'feel' right.

The stencil chapters are frustrating

Attached: 1557416081449.gif (300x300, 656K)

Are you talking about the sections featuring the Stencil character himself, or the extended flashbacks to turn-of-the-century "Baedeker-land" that he narrates? Because while I agree that Stencil as a character wasn't as interesting as Profane or the other "protagonists," I really enjoyed She Hangs on the Western Wall and Mondaugen's Story as stand-alone vignettes.

Attached: 1503909239806647-605174-2-.jpg (1200x749, 148K)

It's the flashbacks that are frustrating. I think they're just as good as Profane and the Whole Sick Crew's parts, just harder than the rest of the book.

spoilers

I prefer the scene where Rupert’s shows up where one of the lads is mining that tunnel under the Swiss alps, and all the miners whip out their songs and start jerking it to her.

V. Is actually my favorite Pynchon, and probably second favorite book ever, and those flashbacks are what made it so for me.

Son is cool but xon is replaceable

I think V. is an ambitious but very messy freshman novel and easily his worst work.

V. is in no way worse than Vineland. V. is better than Bleeding Edge too.

debatable

it is not

yiz it is