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Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon

Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 4:09 am
by Nantosh
Alright, so I'm trying to work myself through this book, and though I'm trying my best to persist ardently, it's proving quite difficult, and some things I'm not quite understanding.

For this, I've found myself ambivalent about how I feel concerning this book. I enjoy the whole second meanings and sweeping allegories and allusions so epitomizing of this book, but I still find it of a higher writing than I can passively understand.

And so, I'm asking for aid from SRF: those who've read it or not. I'm trying my best not to simply read it as I do most other books, otherwise I become lost and feel the need to reread.

Anyways, my first question is this;

'Underfoot crunches the oldest of city dirt, last crystallizations of all the city has denied, threatened and lied to it's children.' - Page 4

What does it mean...?

Re: Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon

Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 10:42 pm
by Puma60
You should join a book club :)

Re: Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon

Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 10:54 pm
by Reise
Nantosh wrote:Anyways, my first question is this;

'Underfoot crunches the oldest of city dirt, last crystallizations of all the city has denied, threatened and lied to it's children.' - Page 4

What does it mean...?


Kinda hard to tell without knowing the context.

Re: Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon

Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 12:05 am
by Nantosh
Reise wrote:
Nantosh wrote:Anyways, my first question is this;

'Underfoot crunches the oldest of city dirt, last crystallizations of all the city has denied, threatened and lied to it's children.' - Page 4

What does it mean...?


Kinda hard to tell without knowing the context.


Evacuation during the Battle of Britain. Evacuees camped far from the city, in an old abandoned warehouse.

Re: Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon

Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 2:40 am
by Reise
Well then that's kinda literal. It's more or less describing the weight of the situation by putting emphasis on what the dirt represents.

I'd go nuts reading something like that.

Re: Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon

Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 3:30 am
by Nantosh
Reise wrote:Well then that's kinda literal. It's more or less describing the weight of the situation by putting emphasis on what the dirt represents.

I'd go nuts reading something like that.


But what exactly has it 'denied, threatened and lied to it's children.' of and about?

And yah, I'm reading the Divine Comedy and Wuthering Heights at the moment to supplement the uphill battle that is GR.

Re: Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon

Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 3:49 pm
by Reise
I dunno, maybe it gets clearer later on.