Dave’s Comments (group member since Nov 11, 2015)

Dave’s comments from the "Against the Day", Thomas Pynchon - 2015 / 2016 group.

"Weary, resigned, occupied for several hours still with its immemorial task, the grey day stitched its shimmering needlework of light and shade, and it saddened me to think that I was to be left alone with a thing that knew me no more than would a seamstress who, installed by the window so as to see better while she finishes her work, pays no attention to the person present with her in the room." In chapter two of Guermantes Way. Ebook so I can't give page.

On a separate note you will probably be amused to learn that I went to ISOLT a couple of weeks ago to check a quote and ended up reading 40 pages! I need to put a sticker on it - CAUTION, DO NOT OPEN UNLESS YOU HAVE PLENTY OF TIME (if you don't have time, Proust will set you to work searching for it)

Renato, since this was my first Pynchon I really didn't have any expectations. I signed on to the read because you invited me and you make groups fun. As I mentioned I got into reading Gravity's Rainbow while anticipating this read. I set GR aside after getting into ATD because I was more drawn to GR and I didn't want that to color my experience here. I look forward to reading others comments.

Relief. I thought it was too long.

Finished the book. I will wait for the group to post comments or write a review.

Max wrote: "I usually find Pynchon to be more difficult than DFW. I think mostly because with DFW you end up looking up a bunch of word definitions, but with Pynchon it's more like entire scientific Wikipedia ..."

I concur with the last sentence of this post Max.

Thanks Dustin and Leonard.. I've heard of the book but oviously never looked into it. Being an oldster and a Texan when I saw DFW I thought Dallas Fort Worth Airport. Now when I see DFW I will think, how interesting that they named one of the largest airports in the country after a young postmodern writer.

Too bad about his suicide,

Traveller wrote: "Dustin wrote: "For those that have read Infinite Jest, do you think this takes more focus and dedication than the latter? Just curious... Sounds like you all are enjoying this.:) ..."

Personally I..."
A valid point Dustin, at 65 I'm having to look up relatively little and have been wondering how younger readers were coping with references and allustions. . Who is DFW?

I'm about three quarters of the way through. I have some opinions and a number of comments, all of which I will keep to myself until the main group starts their discussions while reading.

That may have be a preview of "coming attractions" in Gravity's Rainbow Renato.

What can I say Renato, being old has its advantages. Reading is the only Olympic event I still have a chance of qualifying for. Plenty of time to train.

I am near the end of Icelandic Spar and will start Bilocations tomorrow. After the tough going I had at the beginning of this part, I have found Icelandic Spar pretty straight forward - allowing for all the allusions and references which we each have to meet on our own terms.

You mention a ways back Renato your hope that Pugnax get around to reading Proust. That got me to thinking that since this book is set at the same time as ISOLT, that I would be interested in an episode titled , "The Chums of Chance take tea and Madeleines with Marcel and Aunt Leonie." ;)

Yes Renato, I agree, there are some beautiful descriptions. I am often finding ends of paragraphs or sections either foreboding or poignant.

You are sure right about that Max! Episode 13 is fantastic - a combination of King Kong and Cthulhu. I enjoyed that a lot. I like giantism in horror movies and also H P Lovecraft so I was in the groove for that, although don't have a clue what it was about. Then back to the storyline where it left off in Episode Nine.

I read episodes 10-12 yesterday. 11-12 are the first two in Iceland Spar. I found all these episodes to be increasingly difficult to follow. If the Audiobook narrator had not continued to pull me along through the "snow", I might have thrown in the towel. After thinking over the episodes overnight, I checked the List of Episodes you posted Renato and was pleased to note that I had gotten the overview. Then I read through the link you posted Renato on Australian Chums of Choice. That site admitted the section was difficult and but was encouraging in that it showed me I got at least some of the various strange allusions and details.

The episode summary shows that the next few episodes are going to be more straightforward. Good! I need a break from bizarre.

I've notice a couple of times where characters are introduced and participate in the ongoing plot for a few pages, then there is a flashback (of varying length) that gives the background on the new character.

Thanks Max, I think that's how I'll settle into the read.

Thanks, yes I'm farther along and anarchy keeps coming up, but what I'm curious about is whether the reader is assumed/expected to go looking up these background details on names etc. to better understand/enjoy the book or whether they are just "local color" as the story goes along. Writing out comments like this sometimes helps me answer my own questions.

I will add that there are some details I'm finding more interesting than others in that they "connect" with other points in my own life (two movies I've seen so far).

I was quite intrigued when I discovered that when songs were mentioned that I could go on UTube and listen to them. I would have missed the irony of one scene and perhaps a social commentary linking that scene to another if I had not done that. Locations (hotels and restaurants, neighborhoods) are historical accurate although sometimes poetic license is used in some detail.

This reminds me of a diorama of miniatures that display an age. You can enjoy it with an overview or you can bend down close and examine each piece in detail.

Ah, comments are already underway.

OK, for you Pynchon veterans, how am I suppose to be thinking of all this fine grained detail - for instance the dog, whose name is the same as an asteroid from the large asteroid belt discovered in 1971 by three Astronomers at Mt Palomar. And is reading Henry James' novel about anarchists. I'm far enough along to see a recurrence of anarchists. But is the dog, name, and its literary interest in anarchy to be expected to show up later in the story, or are such details merely curiosities for the reader to explore or not as it suits them?