tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post6200175884529195979..comments2023-10-26T22:06:11.166+11:00Comments on Metamagician3000: Currently reading: Mason & Dixon (1997) by Thomas PynchonRussell Blackfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12431324430596809958noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-13324606783799936012010-12-29T11:28:49.637+11:002010-12-29T11:28:49.637+11:00I think Inherent Vice has more suspense, by any st...I think <i>Inherent Vice</i> has more suspense, by any standard sense of the term, than his other works do. It has a pretty linear plot, as well — flashbacks, but nothing approaching <i>Vineland</i> level. (Parenthetically, tangled timelines don't bother me all that much, it seems. Maybe this is a consequence of growing up on movies like <i>Clue</i> and the <i>Back to the Future</i> trilogy.) Even so, I'd say it's as much driven by atmosphere and theme as it is by plot.Blake Staceyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13977394981287067289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-15841041318868117532010-12-29T10:05:23.257+11:002010-12-29T10:05:23.257+11:00Good point, Blake. Pynchon's work is not exact...Good point, Blake. Pynchon's work is not exactly based on suspense.Russell Blackfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12431324430596809958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-37636187494574268882010-12-29T03:08:50.490+11:002010-12-29T03:08:50.490+11:00How does one spoil a Pynchon novel? I mean, are s...How does one spoil a Pynchon novel? I mean, are spoilers even possible? "Hey, have you reached the part with the clockpunk Jesuit porn? Well, it makes sense in context . . . I think . . . for some value of the word <i>context.</i>"<br /><br />Me trying to explain the plot of a Pynchon novel is like the Paranoids and their girlfriends trying to explain Wharfinger's <i>The Courier's Tragedy.</i><br /><br /><<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_loop" rel="nofollow">/strange loop</a>>Blake Staceyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13977394981287067289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-72339697966425809792010-12-28T11:53:58.303+11:002010-12-28T11:53:58.303+11:00Later on ... well, without giving anything away, l...Later on ... well, without giving anything away, let's just say that it gets less straightforward. But remains affecting and real.<br /><br />Also! The westward progress of the surveyors is secretly a brilliant metaphor for the collapse of the wave function in quantum mechanics. Yes, an anachronism, but that's hardly a surprise.Sean Carrollhttp://cosmicvariance.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-87694769139370613172010-12-28T10:33:07.547+11:002010-12-28T10:33:07.547+11:00It's much more easily accessible than a lot of...It's much more easily accessible than a lot of Pynchon's work, despite the use of 18-century English (which actually moderates a bit once the point has been made). <br /><br />I think it's partly because the main narrative is quite linear, even though within a frame. I recently re-read <i>Vineland</i>, which should be one of Pynchon's most accessible novels, but I found it difficult to follow unless I could give it my complete attention (which I couldn't most of the time for one reason or another). The problem comes from all the flashbacks, flashbacks within flashbacks, digressions within flashbacks within flashbacks, extended metaphors within digressions within flashbacks within flashbacks, and so on. All of this is zany and amusing, but I'd often find myself reading 20 pages and feeling lost. So far, at least, <i>Mason & Dixon</i> is not like that. Mind you, I'm only about, hmmm, one seventh the way through it.Russell Blackfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12431324430596809958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-67016845948692374392010-12-28T02:35:37.006+11:002010-12-28T02:35:37.006+11:00M&D is my favorite of Pynchon's books. It...M&D is my favorite of Pynchon's books. It hits the right balance between metafictional trickery and good old-fashioned fun.Sean Carrollhttp://cosmicvariance.comnoreply@blogger.com