By Eric Wagner
Special guest blogger
Vineland Introduction
My friend Paul Chuey first told me about Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 in 1982. We both loved Wilson and Leary's writing, and Leary's writing about Gravity's Rainbow intrigued us. Paul got me Gravity's Rainbow for Christmas in 1983. It took me four years to read it, and I then read The Crying of Lot 49, V and Slow Learner. In 1990 when Vineland came out in 1990, I found myself broke, but I kept having dreams about buying Vineland, so I splurged on the hardcover. I expected a struggle reading it, but instead I finished it in four days. I felt like I had climbed a flight of stairs and at the end stumbled because I expected more steps. I loved that book so much, and I still do. I have reread it over and over again. I bought his next four books on the first day of publication.
In the eighties, before the announcement of the publication of Vineland, people speculated that Pynchon might never write another novel after Gravity’s Rainbow (1973). Various rumors spread about Pynchon. He had become obsessed with The Brady Bunch. He had lost all his money and wrote Godzilla screenplays. When I first read Vineland, I loved how Pynchon incorporated these theories into the novel.
For this study group we will read one chapter a week, starting next Monday, June 30. Oz Fritz will write the posts for the odd numbered chapters. I will write the posts for the even numbered chapters, and we will finish up just in time for the publication of Pynchon’s new novel Shadow Ticket on October 7
June 30 Chapter 1
July 7 Chapter 2
July 14 Chapter 3
July 21 Chapter 4
July 28 Chapter 5
August 4 Chapter 6
August 11 Chapter 7
August 18 Chapter 8
August 25 Chapter 9
September 1 Chapter 10
September 8 Chapter 11
September 15 Chapter 12
September 22 Chapter 13
September 29 Chapter 14
10 comments:
Great! Can’t wait to read your analysis in advance of the new novel. I just finished my second reading of Vineland earlier this year.
I'm a little confused as to how we are determining the chapter breaks. In my copy, none of the breaks are numbered or titled, and I count more than 14.
Just ordered my copy :)))
I look forward to jumping into a discussion of Vineland.
At 24 my roommate at the Yoga Center highly recommended Gravity's Rainbow , to me. I tried and failed to read it 3 or 4 times until eventually getting through it in my mid 50s with the help of a guidebook. By then I had read every other book by Pynchon. Somewhere around 2010, maybe a little earlier, Eric suggested I join a reading group looking at Against the Day that Michael Johnson instigated. I took to Pynchon's prose and storytelling like a fish to water.
Among other things, I will be exploring the overlap between Robert Anton Wilson's fiction and Pynchon's. I have the Penguin Books 1997 edition that has the same cover image as the photo above. This edition has 14 clearly delineated chapters though not titled or numbered. Chapter 1 goes from p.3 - p. 13. Some of the later chapters go much longer.
Pynchon's dedication, across from the copyright page reads For my mother and father in resonance to parts of the novel. Right before the title page we find a quote from a somewhat obscure blues musician, Johnny Copeland:
"Every dog has his day,
and a good dog
just might have two days."
It's worth listening to for an introduction to a main theme in Vineland, especially the opening lyrics.
https://youtu.be/A6doB5YHIZo?si=YiTiuWR1ppGq6aMn
I find both Wilson and Pynchon act as literary tricksters. Wilson called it guerilla ontology or Operation Mindfuck. Without using those terms, Pynchon operates in a similar fashion in his own way. The opening song quote may or may not serve as an initial salvo of misdirection. To begin, Pynchon paraphrases Copeland: those words as written don't appear in the song which is called "Every Dog's Got His Day." Though many people online mistake the title and call it "Every Dog Has His Day" I think Pynchon made a deliberate choice to change it.
Wilson and Pynchon use Cabala profoundly in their fiction. By changing the line to "Every dog has his day," the addition of the initials in the phrase, e + d + h + h + d = 23. Now where have I seen that number before?
I am a newcomer to Pynchon, having only read Inherent Vice, last month. I enjoyed it greatly and found it an easy read.
Interesting that Eric Wagner would also consider Vineland an easy read. I guess there must be a Pynchon scale of difficulty to his various books.
I am very much looking forward to delve into another Pynchon book, especially as part of a reading group led by critters who already seem like knowledgeable converts.
I have a paper copy published by Penguin Vintage Books, which has a cover art that makes me feel like I'm supposed to be looking for Waldo:
https://cdn2.penguin.com.au/covers/original/9780749391416.jpg
Thank you Oz for linking to the Johnny Copeland song. Since Pynchon often references pop culture, I find that taking the book out of the confines of its pages and approaching it from a multimedia angle enhances the experience of reading.
I also expect many film titles to be name-dropped over the course of the story.
Thank you Kickaa23. Mea culpa. When I first outlined the study group, I googled “How many chapters does Vineland have. Then when I write up the readings, I relied on my memory of that months old Google search, think it had fourteen chapters instead of fifteen, and I didnt’ bother to check the text itself to see that it did not include chapter numbers. The following should work. Using the Penguin paperback pagination:
June 30 Chapter 1 up to pg. 13
July 7 Chapter 2 pg. 14 - 21
July 14 Chapter 3 pg. 22 - 34
July 21 Chapter 4 pg. 35 - 55
July 28 Chapter 5 pg. 56 - 67
August 4 Chapter 6 pg. 68 - 91
August 11 Chapter 7 pg. 92 - 106
August 18 Chatper 8 pg. 107 - 129
August 25 Chapter 9 pg. 130 - 191
September 1 Chapter 10 pg. 192 – 203
September 8 Chapter 11 pg. 204 - 217
September 15 Chapter 12 pg. 218 - 267
September 22 Chapter 13 pg. 268 - 293
September 29 Chapter 14 pg. 294 – 322
October 6 Chapter 15 pg. 323 - 385
My mistake too. I ran through the book and counted 14 chapters obviously missing one.
Spookah, I reckon Vineland a more difficult read than Inherent Vice but far from the complexity and difficulty of Gravity's Rainbow or Mason & Dixon. I heard that Pynchon began writing Gravity's Rainbow right after V, but took a break from it to write The Crying of Lot 49 which reads much easier than either of those. He also began writing Mason & Dixon right after Gravity's Rainbow but took a break to write Vineland, again much easier to read than what came before or after. It seems almost like he has to break out from constructing the super complex works to just have fun with good, descriptive, more straight ahead storytelling prose. Sometimes girls just want to have fun, dang it!
There are film references; television and references to the TV shows of that era are a plot element; tons of music references; a Bach piece saves a bunch of people(?) near the end.
Though it does read much easier than other Pynchon opi and is a lot of fun, I still find Vineland a masterpiece of consciousness raising exposition.
"Rumors that he spent the last decade or two smoking pot and staring at the television set may well be true, so accurate and painful is his America." https://digital.bentley.umich.edu/midaily/mdp.39015071754852/961
Jesse, thank-you for posting the old review of Vineland. I have different interpretations than the reviewer, but agree with him that it's "a new code and a damn fine book." I take the angle that Vineland offers pain management in my next post.
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