Two Pynchons

[Jacek Pudlo]

There are two Pynchons. One is the genius who wrote V (1963), The Crying of Lot 49 (1965), Gravity's Rainbow (1973) and Mason & Dixon (1997). The Other is probably an amanuensis, perhaps a young relative, someone to whom the Master has lent his name. This Other wrote Vineland (1986), Inherent Vice (2009), Bleeding Edge (2013) and possibly also Against the Day (2006). I base this hypothesis on two things. 1) Prose. Whoever wrote Gravity's Rainbow has a command of language that surpasses Vineland by many orders of magnitude. Not a single sentence in Vineland sounds like it was written by Pynchon. The only common denominator is the silly goofiness, which is easy to emulate. 2) Cognitive strength. The work of the Other is intellectually trivial compared to the work of the One. So maybe Pynchon suffered a stroke during the thirteen years between Gravity's Rainbow and Vineland? This doesn't explain Mason & Dixon, his greatest work to date. Why is he doing this? A PoMo joke? Money?

[Eiseabhal]

His schizophrenic alter ego perhaps.

[ennison]

Oh ho. Let's have some comparative quotes. It's always fun to make fun of Boo

[wwparkinson]

I don't know if I would throw The Crying of Lot 49 in there with his masterpieces but I 100% agree with your sentiment; I'd almost go so far to say that Inherent Vice is one of the worst novels I've ever read cover-to-cover while Gravity's Rainbow is easily one of the best. I often hear the words "Pynchon-lite" to describe a few of the weaker works that you mentioned-- what's interesting is that I find them to be lacking all the things that I love in a Pynchon novel (the style, prose, command of language, imagery, all done masterfully and sometimes reminiscent of great poets like Rilke).

Haven't read Against the Day though, that's a shame. It seemed from the reviews it was a return to form since M&D. I own a first edition of Vineland and haven't bothered yet.

[ennison]

If you had a jaw of teeth like that (in the US of A) wouldn't you be reclusive and (if you could afford it do a Koons too?) Hmm. Must all his books be equal?