Now that I've had time to read it I have some questions. I am fairly new to Pynchon so how am I supposed to interpret the parts that seems like outright magic and fantasy creatures? I was expecting a historical story but then he throws in what seems to be straight fantasy. Is this what he normally does or am I supposed to read between the lines for an explanation to what seems like magic? Like hints that items were actually pickpocketed or the robot was lying about being a robot?Or is Pynchon a fantasy author and everyone tricked me into thinking he wrote historical fiction?
>>24877029Who the hell told you Pynchon wrote historical fiction lol
>>24877029That really shouldn't have been your first Pynchon. Read the rest and come back to it.
>>24877035I thought he wrote WWII war stories and that Mason Dixon book. Also sometimes detective mystery conspiracy plots.Never once heard he throws magic and fantasy creatures around
Like it starts off easy enough to explain away. Like he visits a psychic but people have worked as psychics for ages so sure. Then a guy goes on about Wendigos but that's just like his native beliefs not real. Then apporting and making things disappear with magic. That starts simple enough like sure probably a good pickpocket. But then the objects magically appearing and disappearing get way beyond plausible. And by the end there is a guy claiming to be a golem and discussing ordnance from BAGEL the Bureau Administering Golem Employment Locally with a machine gun for an arm shooting at what might be vampire Nazi motorcycle gangs.I thought I was going insane.
>>24877038Think you'll find Gravity's Rainbow a little different from what's in your head.
>>24877029Gravity's Rainbow has a whole government/military department dedicated to studying psychic abilities, a giant adenoid destroying London in a psychic-ability-induced-dream, a conspiracy involving an octopus attacking a young woman, a Sherman tank crashing into a party (which was explicitly stated NOT to be a part of the Conspiracy) and more.
>>24877029It just a world that operates on wacky looney tunes logic. Don't think too hard.
>>24877029Pynchon writes pseudo-historical speculative fiction that treats the legends and myths and now-debunked science of the time and place as if they were real. Also, consider the epigraph: "Supernatural, perhaps. Baloney... perhaps not."
>>24877345Amend pseudo-historical to quasi-historical. I think it's fair to say that Pynchon grounds his settings in an incredible breadth and depth of research that allows the fantastical elements to come to life.
Where do you think the submarine went to at the end?
thomas pynchon is a nigger lover fuck him
>>24877029Pynchon was influenced by magical realism.
haha pynchon is so random xD
>>24877364To subway
>>24877038The WWII war story with sentient lightbulbs and magic being a real thing that works? The Mason Dixon book with a talking dog? Those books?
>>24878084This is pretty much it. The shame is that the stuff in shadow ticket isn't meaningfully evocative. It's an amusement
>>24878900nice
>>24878900Pynchon tier joke 10/10
Book is much better than people are giving it credit for. Looking forward to re-reading it some time next year.
>>24877054seems like a lotta fun, think I'll read it asap
>>24881874It is remarkable for many reasons, but perhaps most of all in that it manages to be at times hilarious, often good fun, but ultimately unbelievably bleak.
