This month, the fine folks at Just In Case We Die post the first episode in a series of discussions in which they will dissect a difficult novel that has baffled readers, delighted conspiracy theorists, exhausted English majors, and earned its place among the most intimidating masterpieces in American literature: Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow.
Published in 1973, this mammoth of a novel throws readers right smack dab into the chaos of World War II, where rockets fall from the sky, shadowy organizations pull the strings, paranoia is practically a survival skill, and the line between genius and complete madness gets thinner with every page. At the center of it all is Tyrone Slothrop, an American lieutenant whose bizarre connection to German V-2 rocket strikes sends him spiraling into a labyrinth of sex, science, technology, corporate power, and conspiracies that may—or may not—make sense.
And that’s the thing about Gravity’s Rainbow: just when you think you’ve figured out what Pynchon is doing, he pulls the rug out from under you, hands you a banana, and disappears into a fog of paranoia and obscure pop-culture references.
Aaron is a self-avowed expert. Rebecca’s been trying to finish this novel for years. Rodney is just glad that he doesn’t have to read The Recognitions again.
Press PLAY on the media player below to hear the first discussion.
