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/lit/ - Literature

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16322749 No.16322749 [Reply] [Original]

is it hard to read? planning to read it in english

>> No.16322791

>>16322749
Didn’t know he was that good-looking
Is that really him

>> No.16322819

Yes. He constantly alludes to obscure pieces of popular media, likes to play a coy with focalization choices, presents rather impenetrable arguments and finds rather bizarre connections between his themes. His style is, simply put, obscure.

Is it worth it? Yes. But if something can be considered hard, its that. Imagine reading Gravity's Rainbow in 70s without access to wikis that detail which lines allude to London drinking songs and which to Holocaust train schedules.

>> No.16322828

It's pretty tough if you don't get the many references at times anon, how fluent are you?

>> No.16322862

>>16322828
well I might be not enough fluent, the only english book i've read is For whom the bell tolls

>> No.16323053

>>16322791
>good-looking
he looks like goofy. you must be hideous

>> No.16323091

I read Pinecone like it's Ulysses, streams-of-awareness reading combined with thorough dictionary and etymological reference works notetaking

>> No.16323119

>>16322862
>I might be not enough fluent
Reading is generally easier than composing, but Pynchon's sentences can be very complex, and if you're making mistakes like "enough fluent" instead of "fluent enough" you're probably going to have a hard time.

>> No.16323271

You can try. What are you going to lose? If you read 10% of the book and find it difficult you can drop it and read later.

>> No.16323328

>>16323119
as you said reading is easier than composing, usually i have no prob with reading

mistakes because of french calque

>> No.16323388

>>16322819
>obscure pieces of popular media
>obscure
>popular

which is it

>> No.16323417

>>16323053
and you must be a genius

>> No.16323423

>>16323417
that’s right

>> No.16323439

>>16323423
that's might? (because might is right)

>> No.16323869

>>16323388
I guess this person meant obscure in the sense of we all know what Star Wars is, but do you know the name of the man who gets his arm cut off in the Cantina.

So in making a Star Wars allusion Pynchon might use that man's name.

>> No.16324176

I'm 100 pages into Gravity's Rainbow and it's pretty tough. It's not so much that his prose is too hard to read (his writing and descriptions are pretty clear and beautiful), it's that you have no idea what the fuck he's trying to get at. Just read over a few chapter summaries after each reading and you should be fine.

>> No.16324385

>>16322819
>Imagine reading Gravity's Rainbow in 70s without access to wikis that detail which lines allude to London drinking songs and which to Holocaust train schedules.
very minor points

>> No.16324608

never read him, he's talked about here and nowhere else.
-snooze, wake me up when you read wolfe

>> No.16324736

>>16323388
How well-versed are you in the popular media of 1940s America?

>> No.16324748

Pynchon worked for the CIA. Where did he go for the decade after GR?

>> No.16324762

>>16324176
I just know pirate british man cook lots of bananas and then I stopped reading.