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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Illustrated Gravity's Rainbow

15:54 / 22.04.05

I admit, I've tried at least 4 times to read Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, and each time I've given up. I think the furthest I've gotten was up to the part where Slothrop abandons his "Rocketman" guise.

The thing is, I'm always wanting to have another try at this book, but each time I read it, I quickly become infuriated. It's not that I can't handle non-linear narrative, or that I need a Dan Brown-type simple plot. In fact, I'd say one of my favorite books is the Illuminatus! trilogy, which I've read multiple times, and which bears a few similarities to GR -- but whereas GR arguably has much better prose, Illuminatus is, at least to me, a more pleasurable reading experience.

Rambling introduction aside, an artist named Zak Smith has illustrated every page of Gravity's Rainbow. The collection was displayed at the Whitney Museum in New York in early 2004, but now you can find every single illustration, along with some well-written introductions, right here.

13:07 / 04.05.05

Buttergun: this is what you need.

I read it alongside my second reading of GR and it helped hugely. Not only that, but the depths of Pynchon's reseach and erudition will knock you off your feet.

That aside, thanks for the link, what a mad bastard. But Pynchon inspires insanity.

14:09 / 05.05.05

Thanks for the recommendation. I'm going to give this book a try again. Though each time, while trying to read the book, I've come to this conclusion: "If I'm having such a hard time reading this and not getting much satisfaction from it, then why the hell am I still reading it?" and then I'll move on to something else.

But the thing is...the first hundred or so pages of this book are great, I think. I also enjoyed all of the Rocketman hijinks. But then something goes wrong, either with me or the book, and I just can't do it anymore. But like I said, that desire is always there to actually read this book from cover to cover.

As soon as I finish re-reading Illuminatus I'm going to move on to this -- after picking up that guide, that is! And I agree, just from the parts I've read, the level of detail and research Pynchon put into this book is astonishing. Especially when you factor in the legend that he wrote the book in spartan surroundings, with nothing but a book or two on WW2 at his side...and a lot of dope, I'm sure.

15:57 / 07.05.05

There's been at least one other attempt at a online illustrated Gravity's Rainbow... flash-heavy and a bit, um, "comceptual", for lack of a better word. Looks rather like a demented Tarot deck, to be honest...

20:36 / 17.09.05

Just wanted to resuscitate this thread to say I'm about 100 pages into Gravity's Rainbow, and I'm enjoying the hell out of it. Maybe I just wasn't in the right place to enjoy it, the last few times I've given it a go. This time I intend to complete it...can't believe I've never even gotten to the "pig costume" section!

wandering aengus

16:27 / 23.10.05

Yeah... I just saw a Zak Smith exhibition in Chelsea, titled "Exquisite as Fuck." Pretty fucking exquisite, I will agree.
I got the requisite 100 something pages into Gravity's Rainbow, and I think will try it again while flipping through Zak's exquisite little illustrations. Crazy mofo.

12:56 / 24.10.05

I finished the novel this weekend. I loved it. Not sure why it's taken me so long to "get" the book. I really had no trouble with it at all this time, and there's not a part I didn't enjoy. I'd say my favorite section was the extended sequence in which Slothrop became Plechazunga, the Pig Hero, a sequence I thought was even more fun than the often-mentioned "Rocketman" section.

It's funny, I didn't pick up Weisenburger's "A Gravity's Rainbow Companion," but this past Saturday, the very day I'd finished the book, I was at a used bookstore and came across Weisenburger's guide for cheap! Talk about your ironies. I picked it up for my next reading, though I'm not sure how useful it will be. I think I'd find reading a sentence of Pynchon's and then referring to the Companion would be a bit tiresome.

The only guide I used through my reading was the best available, and it's free for all: Michael Davitt Bell's SOME THINGS THAT HAPPEN (MORE OR LESS) IN GRAVITY'S RAINBOW. This was written in 1980 for Bell's college class, and is a perfect chapter-by-chapter summary/explanation of what happens in the novel. I recommend it to all who have difficulty with the book.