/lit/ - Literature

I want to read pic related but just by reading the reviews and how anons talk about Pynchon, I feel immediately filtered. Especially with how I apparently need at least some understanding of 18th century history.

Any recommendations of how I can build my way up to someone like Pynchon? What context do I need? Is there a specific way I should approach it?

When does it click?

Son Thomas Pynchon & Mason & Dixon Xon

I bought this book for $2 from a charity shop because I had heard of Pynchon before
I'm trying to read it now but I'm a bit confused
Even the first sentence is a bit confusing
As of Cousins? Why are some nouns capitalised and some aren't?

>>21272466
>might as well capitalize every fucking word

I just finished this and I’m literally in tears. I never thought I’d care this much about the relationship between two men. How does he do it bros?

What am I in for?

I'm 100 pages in. When does it get good?

Is Mason & Dixon easier to read than Gravity's Rainbow?

Finally finished pic related. Post rankings of his books.

>GR
>M&D
>Col49
>V
>Vineland
>BE

Really enjoyed the top 4 but would not recommend the other 2. Was for a moment tempted to put M&D over GR.

Comfy but the fourth chapter reminded me that I was reading pynchon with all the jumps

>reading where their progress is halted by a snowstorm and M&D have an impromptu snowball fight/sled ride
>at 12am Christmas Eve
>while listening to Good King Wenceslaus
>by the light of the tree
>while it snows outside
Good Lord I think about it every year
Also Anatomy of Melancholy

This is the best Pynchon and the other ones aren't even close.

Is this any good? Is it a good intro to Pynchon?

Just bought son & xon.

What am I in for?

This is very nice the second time around. You notice that the reverend only got to his sisters home because he went to Mason's funeral. How much of the story did he make up? The mechanical bird?

Pic related.

I feel I just lost two long time friends, /lit/bros. It's the same feeling from when I finished Lord of the Rings.
Best momentos:
>le talking dog
>le sex with African slaves
>le severed ear
>le mechanical duck
>le never-ending clock
I've learned something important from the book. In the end your story must be fun - imagine a reader is going to talk about it to a friend, what is he going to say? I love Pessoa and Dostoiévski, but it's impossible to get normies interested in their work without sounding pretentious (rambling about le philosophical motifs). Meanwhile it's easier to talk about a man who turns into a were-beaver or a mechanical tsundere duck and getting people hooked (kinda what happens with Master and Margarita and the black cat). Books are the cheapest way to be fantastical, so why settle with the mediocrity of daily life? I mean, I love Joyce, but nowadays nobody would read him if he wasn't already idealized. You can hide your philosophical takes behind interesting situations and let the reader discover them - and if they don't want to, they had fun and left with a great story.

About to marathon this

What did I think?

Is this a good start to Pynchon? What's /lit/'s opinion on the book overall?

it's also my first crack at Pynchon. Perhaps not the best idea but oh well.

>my little telescope: friendship is magic
Really guys? Really? THIS is your paragon? This is who you hold up in the /lit/ pantheon of "great modern writers"? Robotic ducks, electric eels, and smoking DUDE LMAO with George Washington? What a fucking joke, I'm so done with this place.