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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
Again, a major part of my Pynchon studies in college. I have two copies of this one with different notes, too, and this was the subject of my gigantic research project in which I even applied for a Fulbright for. Seems like such a long-ago portion of my life, but this book remains my favorite Pynchon novel, and the one I know the most about.
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Definitely his best that I've read. Was consistently the best prose and story wise. GR had higher highs in prose and Crying of lot 49 had a better story this had both at a consistently high level. Felt a bit exhausting at the end but was definitely worth the effort. Did I get all of it? no. Do I care? no. Would I read it again? no. was I glad I did read it? absolutely. I think with his stuff you kind of just have to let go of understanding (i.e. scrutinizing everything and trying to understand every section) and just enjoy what you enjoy in it. Took me an embarrassingly long time to realize this and GR really left a bad taste in my mouth (yet I keep coming back to his books...curious...?) and when in the first 20ish pages theres a talking dog in this I put the book down and said no way haha! Glad I pushed through that though. It had some really tremendous writing, dude is obviously super talented.
Realized at the end that while I was searching for closure to the conspiracies and all the threads he pulls on that not only will you never get closure but thats not the point. The point is that there are all these forces acting upon us in our life that we may not even be aware of yet they affect every aspect of our life. He gives us a glimpse of these ()the battle between the jesuits and the royal astronomers, the EIC and Dutch EIC, etc) theyre all interconnected, all powerful, and none will ever be resolved. The "power" is simply transferred and transformed throughout history and acts on all of us.
Realized at the end that while I was searching for closure to the conspiracies and all the threads he pulls on that not only will you never get closure but thats not the point. The point is that there are all these forces acting upon us in our life that we may not even be aware of yet they affect every aspect of our life. He gives us a glimpse of these ()the battle between the jesuits and the royal astronomers, the EIC and Dutch EIC, etc) theyre all interconnected, all powerful, and none will ever be resolved. The "power" is simply transferred and transformed throughout history and acts on all of us.
Pinčonove romane zamišljam kao kofere koji pucaju koliko su prepuni stvari. Na carini mu kažu da ih otvore, pošto nešto sija na skeneru, i onda posle ne može da ih zatvori. Sve ono unutra izleti u svet.
Tako ovde postoje automaton patke sa fetišima, vanzemaljci, džinovska svesna uva, duhovi, kolonizatori napuštenih jedanaest dana, crni pakleni psi, golemi, feng šui džedaji, i mnogo drugog, sa sve Bendžaminom Frenklinom koga je struja udarila jedan put previše i Džordžom Vašingtonom kao trajno napušenim svodnikom. Plus divan rečnik i smisao za humor. Pinčon, ukratko.
Medjutim, ono što po mom mišljenju stavlja Mejsona i Diksona i iznad Duge Gravitacije (sl. prevod), jesu naracija i emocija.
Narativno, priču priča pinčonovski nazvan sveštenik Wicks Cherrycoke, kao jednu analogiju arapskoj Hiljadu i jednoj noći. On priča priču kako ga porodica ne bi izbacila napolje, na zimu; porodica podjednako životna kao i on sam, ali ne toliko mudra – jer samo kod Pinčona lik sa takvim imenom može da bude jedan od mudraca.
Viks je lično poznavao ubedljivo i toplo karakterisan naslovni dvojac – iako je to bilo na circa 5% njihovog ukupnog putovanja. Ali on ipak može da priča o svemu, jer, kako kaže: „Rather, part of the common Duty of Remembering, - surely our Sentiments,- how we dream’d of, and were mistaken in, each other,- count for at least as much as our poor cold Chronologies.“
Emotivno, dosta je reći Mejson i Dikson.
I to je sve.
5+
Tako ovde postoje automaton patke sa fetišima, vanzemaljci, džinovska svesna uva, duhovi, kolonizatori napuštenih jedanaest dana, crni pakleni psi, golemi, feng šui džedaji, i mnogo drugog, sa sve Bendžaminom Frenklinom koga je struja udarila jedan put previše i Džordžom Vašingtonom kao trajno napušenim svodnikom. Plus divan rečnik i smisao za humor. Pinčon, ukratko.
Medjutim, ono što po mom mišljenju stavlja Mejsona i Diksona i iznad Duge Gravitacije (sl. prevod), jesu naracija i emocija.
Narativno, priču priča pinčonovski nazvan sveštenik Wicks Cherrycoke, kao jednu analogiju arapskoj Hiljadu i jednoj noći. On priča priču kako ga porodica ne bi izbacila napolje, na zimu; porodica podjednako životna kao i on sam, ali ne toliko mudra – jer samo kod Pinčona lik sa takvim imenom može da bude jedan od mudraca.
Viks je lično poznavao ubedljivo i toplo karakterisan naslovni dvojac – iako je to bilo na circa 5% njihovog ukupnog putovanja. Ali on ipak može da priča o svemu, jer, kako kaže: „Rather, part of the common Duty of Remembering, - surely our Sentiments,- how we dream’d of, and were mistaken in, each other,- count for at least as much as our poor cold Chronologies.“
Emotivno, dosta je reći Mejson i Dikson.
I to je sve.
5+
Couldn't really get into it, though that may be due to the fact that I was reading it on my commute rather than on binge-reading sessions
yeah I'm surprised everyone else didn't just quit after this
Full of the worst kind of intellectual onanism, but then that's what you get with so much post-modern literature. As ever Pynchon sacrifices narrative drive on the alter of literary form and what we're left with is a sprawling, self indulgent mess. There's no doubt that there's often beauty in the language here, but otherwise this is an unutterably tedious read that is constantly falling over itself to prove how clever it is.
Funny examination of male friendship. I enjoyed the mimicry of Ben Franklin-ish coarse humor and 18th century style writing, but it also made for slow going.
I loved how very Benjamin Franklin this book was, both in style and in sense of humor. Long and at times difficult to engage with, but overall rewarding.