Search Results for: against the day pynchon riff

“…in the direction of increasing entropy” (Another Riff on Pynchon’s Novel Against the Day)

Edwin TurnerLeave a comment

1. So in the final pages of Against the Day, Thomas Pynchon takes us back to those heroes of the ether who initiated the book, the Chums of Chance. They’ve been absent for a long stretch, with only the occasional mention here or there to assure us that yes, they are still in the narrative, but under… Continue reading “…in the direction of increasing entropy” (Another Riff on Pynchon’s Novel Against the Day)

“…a spectral cavalry, faces disquietingly wanting in detail, eyes little more than blurred sockets…” (Another Riff on Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day)

Edwin Turner3 Comments

Another riff on/citation from Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day. In this episode, our heroes, Chums of Chance Chick Counterfly (chief science officer) and Darby Suckling (chief horndog) have found their way to an off-brand time machine, managed and (shoddily) maintained by Dr. Zoot (whose doctorate seems unlikely). Dr. Zoot sends the boys (ostensibly) to the… Continue reading “…a spectral cavalry, faces disquietingly wanting in detail, eyes little more than blurred sockets…” (Another Riff on Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day)

“Smite early and often” (Another Riff on Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day)

Edwin Turner1 Comment

1. The passage I’ll be riffing on today is hardly the funniest or most dazzling piece of writing I’ve encountered so far in Thomas Pynchon’s massive, shaggy novel Against the Day. However, I think this stretch of writing neatly and concisely illustrates the perspective (maybe world view is a better term; hell, we could even go with fancy-pants Weltanschauung here) of… Continue reading “Smite early and often” (Another Riff on Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day)

“…he enjoyed a sort of dual existence” (Another Riff on Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day)

Edwin Turner6 Comments

He had brought with him a dime novel, one of the Chums of Chance series, The Chums of Chance at the Ends of the Earth, and for a while each night he sat in the firelight and read to himself but soon found he was reading out loud to his father’s corpse, like a bedtime… Continue reading “…he enjoyed a sort of dual existence” (Another Riff on Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day)

The Chums of Chance vs The Legion of Gnomes (Citation from + Riff on Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day)

Edwin Turner5 Comments

At first the “noise” seemed no more than the ensemble of magnetoatmospheric disturbances which the boys had long grown used to, perhaps here intensified by the vastly resonant space into which they were moving ever deeper. But presently the emission began to coalesce into human timbres and rhythms—not speech so much as music, as if… Continue reading The Chums of Chance vs The Legion of Gnomes (Citation from + Riff on Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day)

A few sentences on every Thomas Pynchon novel to date

Biblioklept1 Comment

Today, 8 May 2022, is Thomas Ruggles Pynchon’s 85th birthday. Some of us nerds celebrate the work of one of the world’s greatest living authors with something called Pynchon in Public Day. In the past I’ve rounded up links to Pynchon stuff on Biblioklept and elsewhere. To celebrate, here are short riffs on Pynchon’s eight… Continue reading A few sentences on every Thomas Pynchon novel to date

A few sentences on every Thomas Pynchon novel to date

Biblioklept4 Comments

Today, 8 May 2021, is Thomas Ruggles Pynchon’s 84th birthday. Some of us nerds celebrate the work of one of the world’s greatest living authors with something called Pynchon in Public Day. In the past I’ve rounded up links to Pynchon stuff on Biblioklept and elsewhere. Last year, that weird pandemic year, I finally finished… Continue reading A few sentences on every Thomas Pynchon novel to date

Thomas Pynchon beats J.G. Ballard to win the 2020 Tournament of Zeitgeisty Writers

BibliokleptLeave a comment

Thomas Pynchon beat out J.G. Ballard, earning 61% of 337 votes of my totally-scientific and not-at-all arbitrary twitter poll to become the Champion of the 2020 Tournament of Zeitgeisty Writers. Mr. Pynchon’s trophy is at Biblioklept World Headquarters here in Florida. After this whole quarantine business is over I’m sure he’ll arrange to pick it… Continue reading Thomas Pynchon beats J.G. Ballard to win the 2020 Tournament of Zeitgeisty Writers

Three potential starting points for reading Thomas Pynchon

BibliokleptLeave a comment

Today is Pynchon in Public Day, so today’s Three Books blog offers three books that I think may make good entry points for those interested in, but perhaps unnecessarily daunted by, Thomas Pynchon. My intuition is that many readers’ first experiences reading Pynchon may have been like mine: I read The Crying of Lot 49 as a college […]

… Continue reading Three potential starting points for reading Thomas Pynchon

A riff on starting Robert Coover’s first novel, Origin of the Brunists

Edwin Turner2 Comments

Origin of the Brunists is Robert Coover’s first novel. First published in 1966, this long novel tells the story of an apocalyptic religious cult that forms around the sole survivor of a mining accident. The novel begins with the Brunists prepping for the upcoming end of the world (doomsday is scheduled for the weekend). After this… Continue reading A riff on starting Robert Coover’s first novel, Origin of the Brunists

Pynchon in Public Day, 2018

Biblioklept2 Comments

What the hell is Pynchon in Public Day? My (incomplete) annotations of Gravity’s Rainbow An argument for three possible starting points for reading Thomas Pynchon In which I read Playboy for the Thomas Pynchon article   List of Possible Descriptors for Against the Day Captain Geoffrey “Pirate” Prentice’s bodacious banana breakfast for a bunch of hung over army officers… Continue reading Pynchon in Public Day, 2018

Three potential starting points for reading Thomas Pynchon

Biblioklept7 Comments

Today is Pynchon in Public Day, so today’s Three Books blog offers three books that I think may make good entry points for those interested in, but perhaps unnecessarily daunted by, Thomas Pynchon. My intuition is that many readers’ first experiences reading Pynchon may have been like mine: I read The Crying of Lot 49 as a college […]

… Continue reading Three potential starting points for reading Thomas Pynchon

Three Books (that are good starting points for reading Thomas Pynchon)

Biblioklept8 Comments

Today is Pynchon in Public Day, so today’s Three Books blog offers three books that I think may make good entry points for those interested in, but perhaps unnecessarily daunted by, Thomas Pynchon. My intuition is that many readers’ first experiences reading Pynchon may have been like mine: I read The Crying of Lot 49 as a college… Continue reading Three Books (that are good starting points for reading Thomas Pynchon)