The struggle to read Pynchon

So reading this novel has really given me time to reflect on my reading practices and since I am including this blog in my writer's workshop for 108A, I thought I would take this moment to write about how difficult it has been so far for me to read this book.  This is the first novel, in a very long time, that I have definitely felt like I am having a comprehension issue or that I am extremely challenged comprehension wise.  And while this can be frustrating at moments, I know the book is within my comprehension level and simply requires an amount of opportunities for re-reading, taking notes in the margins of the text, and just slowing down my reading in general for comprehension.  As I have implemented these I have had much better success in reading and slowly understanding this novel, but it has taken me much longer to read than the average text.  I look at this novel though as an opportunity for me to grow as a reader especially since it is so challenging.  I love to read, and as an undergraduate Literature major, I was usually required to read 1.5 to 2 books per week for each class along with a assortment of critical theory and essays, so it is a refreshing change to be able to take time to read a novel at my own comprehensive pace as well as read something that is not a quick read for me.

As far as teaching goes reading a novel at pretty much my frustration level has been really helpful for me to reflect on what it might be like for our students to read texts or to struggle with the texts in the classroom.  (And while I know that we often shoot for students reading at their instructional and independent levels, I also know that too often students are exposed to texts that are at their frustration level; especially those struggling readers who are far below the rest of the class.)  I can definitely relate to the struggling reader now in my classroom and see how hard it must be for them to read and want to finish reading a text that is extremely hard or may be simply too hard for them.  This text for me has definitely been a challenge and I'm not going to lie, at times I have contemplating dropping it for exhaustion reasons, and going back to something that I can breeze through in a week, but isn't challenging for me.  And yet I also love reading so much and have such a desire to read this book, I slowly but surely keep pushing through it.  But one thing I also know is that if I hadn't been given and had so many opportunities for success in reading to be able to really learn to love reading like I do, then I might not have that desire and love of reading to push through and really comprehend and read such a difficult book, which is something to think about when encouraging our students to read and how to proceed to do so.

Sample Page of Notetaking

I thought it might be interesting since this is a reading blog to put up a scan of the first page of the book and the notes I take while reading, to provide insight into how I work with the text itself. 

GR:1: pg.3:

The first page of the text (minus the heading and quote on the previous page which I will write about later), begins "A SCREAMING COMERS ACROSS THE SKY. It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare it to now," (Pynchon, 3).  Right from the first line, we are struck by the presence of sound as a facet for imagery in the text.  This use of sound to convey the physical surroundings and characterize the setting is done masterfully.  The first line of this text is an excellent example of this, and I have noticed so far  the continuance of this use of sound in the novel as well. Sound in this first page is used in polarization to light, or the absence of it.

Absence of Light:  The absence of light in the beginning of the text immediately places us in what seems almost to be a post apocalyptic universe where we are uncertain of what has happened to cause the world to be this way, and yet we are struck that there is something a miss.  Perhaps the novel's beginning at night in a setting where there is no light is used to be metaphorical; making some note on the setting being devoid of hope.  Perhaps it is used to set the scene for us as a reader, to paint in our minds a setting that is filled with murky blackness and sullen lumped figures making their way through this iron environment.  Perhaps it is done to make the reader feel as the individuals the narrator speaks of in the text that we too are: "pushing into older and more desolate parts of the city.  Is this the way out? Faces turn to windows, but no one dares to ask, not out loud," (Pynchon, 3).  Perhaps all three, I will continue studying the use of light in the text as I continue reading.

Spectacle:  I have long been fascinated with the use of the concept of the spectacle in literary texts, and I am always on the lookout for some small hit nor use of this concept.  The narrator of the text makes reference to a spectacle on page 3: "He's afraid of the way the glass will fall - soon - it will be a spectacle: the fall of a crystal palace.  But coming down in total blackout, without one glint of light, only great invisible crashing," (Pynchon, 3).  I find this quote quite interesting since it references the concept of the spectacle, which is ironic since in it seems that one of the inherent qualities of a spectacle is that one must have a witness or be able to see a spectacle, which in an environment that is devoid of light, like this one is not possible.  And yet, once again the narrator brings in that quality of sound again, with the use of the line: "without one glint of light, only great invisible crashing," (Pynchon, 3), and with this we are once again made aware of the ability of sound to convey and almost take over the properties of light in this first page, filling in the details and needs that the absence of light would leave this world in need of.

The Start of Something/ The Project of a Lunatic

In my senior year of college, my senior seminar professor showed us a link to a literary blog about J.M. Coetzee who is absolutely my favorite author currently, and I remember thinking that a truly literary blog was a fantastic idea.  (I have always dreamed of having such a lengthy engagement with a text, and the discipline to read and analyze a text everyday).  So I've decided to create this blog dedicated to two texts: Gravity's Rainbow and Moby Dick, I know the two of the most dense novels ever written and the project of a crazy person, but I'm ready for it and so here we go!