I changed my mind on how I wanted to word this portion of this post, or what's left of it...
Norm and I had a conversation last week where he said that, to him, Vineland is the best Pynchon novel to use to create new fans because it is more accessible, easy enough to follow, but still shows the dazzling use of language and multiple timelines that us fans love. Not too many books can you get half-way through, be totally mesmerized, and still not really know what the hell is going on (most of the others that I've read are Pynchon's).
I told him that I felt that Inherent Vice, the newest novel from Pynchon that was released this month, was more accessible, mainly due to the fact that, since it's a detective novel, the structure was such that it went much more linearly, and reading it gives you really only one timeline to sort out.
I would have to say that I agree with Norm on starting off with Vineland. Inherent Vice is more like a candy reward for Against the Day and Gravity's Rainbow, and a suitable background helps a reader to fully enjoy how Pynchon makes fun of a genre taking itself too seriously...kinda like Denis Johnson and Nobody Move.
In any case, for (my) readers interested in finding out what it's all about: start with Vineland, then move on to The Crying of Lot 49, which is closer to the nearly impenetrable jargon that made Pynchon famous but is much smaller than AtD, GR, M&D. If you're ready for more, tackle my, and I think Norm's as well, favorite Against the Day.
The guy is one of the best in English, definitely since WWII, and possibly ever...
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