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David Bloom portfoleo — PYNCHON IS THE UTOPIUM OF THE MATH CLASSES: A Rhapsody of Exquisitely Mindful Pleasures "Nobody ever said a day has to be juggled into any kind of sense at day's end." [Thomas Pynchon, "Gravity's Rainbow"] Most authors inadvertently encourage us to be lazy readers. They make it too easy to read their fiction. We expect authors to comply with conventions of story-telling, a manageable number of characters, a narrative arc, a sense of relevance and progress towards a conclusion, a climax, a goal, a realisation and/or an understanding. Pynchon doesn't necessarily write this way. He takes us to a world that might look like ours, but it is potentially alien (or at least foreign), in that there are some things or a lot of things that we do not know or understand about it. "I'll tell you a story someday. Maybe." [Thomas Pynchon, "Against the Day"] What we see and experience at first might look familiar, superficially, but ours is the experience of a tourist, a stranger in a strange land or a space traveler landing on a distant moon or planet. We have to construct knowledge, meaning and understanding, bit by bit, like a spy, a sleuth or a detective. "...a crime, often of the gravest sort, committed in a detective story, may often be only a pretext for the posing and solution of some narrative puzzle..." [Thomas Pynchon, "Against the Day"] Pynchon doesn't just present his fictional world to us in easily digested mouthfuls. Whether or not his novels are difficult, they require mastication, exertion. We have to work on them. We have to do our bit. Having bitten off, we must chew. This is their challenge, but even more importantly this is our reward. Pynchon offers us not mindless pleasures (an early working title for "Gravity's Rainbow"), but exquisitely mindful pleasures. "'Oh, you're overthinking it all,' Yashmeen said, 'as usual.'" [Thomas Pynchon, "Against the Day"] That said, what would a Pynchon novel be if you didn't endeavour to think (or overthink) it through? Are we meant to settle for studied incomprehension? "NOW SINGLE UP ALL LINES!" The first line of the novel is a nautical term that relates to the preparation of a ship (or in this case, an airship) to leave its mooring and depart (or take off). Several sets of double ropes would normally secure the ship in its place. This command reduces the mooring to one rope in each position. It’s a halfway step. Just as it releases the ship, it releases the lines themselves: once freed of their burden, the lines can now float free. They might also represent the verbal lines of the book, which are then commanded to cast off “cheerly now... handsomely... very well,” a perfect description of what Pynchon proceeds to do throughout the novel. He writes comically, eloquently and effectively. "It's Always Night, or We Wouldn't Need Light" The epigraph is attributed to Thelonious Monk in a Time Magazine profile published in 1964. While it might have been an expression that Monk used frequently, it could be a misquotation of another expression attributed to Monk by the saxophonist Steve Lacy in 1960: "It must be always night, otherwise they wouldn't need the lights." The two expressions have slightly different connotations. The first implies that the darkness of the night requires the enlightenment of the day or lighting. However, the second, in the context of jazz musicians playing at night in clubs, implies that the dimly lit darkness is a precondition for their music, their creativity, spontaneity and improvisation. The darkness is not a negative quality that needs to be alleviated by the light. It’s a positive that allows individuals to perform at their best. "Against the Day" This construction, if it’s credible, hints at the meaning of the title "against the day". In the novel, which is set between the 1890’s and the early 1920’s (the era in which Modernism began), it’s the light of day that is the negative. It symbolises the work of the Devil, the obviousness and conformity of the crowd, and its scrutiny by the powers that be (whether governments or employers). Pynchon’s sympathy is very much with non-conformists, anarchists and socialists who are battling against capitalism and imperialism (or different manifestations of civilisation promoted by Great Britain, Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Tsarist Russia and Turkey), often with the only tools available to them: strikes, protests, assassinations, bombings and terrorism. The latter are the underground (the counterculture), the former the overground (the over the counter culture). Above them all are the Chums of Chance, "a five-lad crew" (plus their dog, Pugnax, who enjoys reading Henry James’ “The Princess Casamassima”, also a novel about radical politics featuring a terrorist assassination plot) who float above the world in their airship (“the Inconvenience”), privileged to have a map-like perspective or birdseye view of the clashes of civilisations occurring on the surface. By befriending chance, they too oppose (law and) order, and embrace the chaos of unrestrained freedom, free as birds (although as Bob Dylan would later ask in "Ballad In Plain D", "are birds free from the chains of the skyway?") Servants of Greed and Force Underlying the clash of civilisations is a (daylit) certainty that I (the sovereign Subject) am right and you (the Other object which is the subject of sovereignty) are wrong. Pynchon questions certitude and power from both mathematical and metaphysical perspectives. The maths might deter some readers who would otherwise thoroughly enjoy the novel. However, in truth, it's not necessary to study up on it, unless you're particularly inclined to do so. It's primarily contextual, and there is enough explanation in the novel itself to get Pynchon's drift. The maths is largely dispensed with in the first third to half of the novel. I tried to keep up, but still found myself doing some online research to determine how much I was missing out on. However, once I felt that I had some basic layman's understanding of the issues, I was content to focus on the pleasures of the text. This mightn't be much comfort to a sceptical or impatient reader, but I found that it was a lot easier to read, comprehend and enjoy the novel after the first 490 pages or so! The Fork in the Silk Road The maths helps to understand the concept of doubling or coupling that is fundamental to the book. Neither concept is far removed from Nabokov's employment of doubles in "Lolita". It's a literary or cultural device, in this case, one built on a mathematical or scientific foundation. If we start with a ray of light passing through a prism (such as Iceland spar), it's possible that the ray might be refracted into two sets of waves or particles. Thus, the thing that was once singular might now be separate or double. If there is a symmetry between the refracted light, one wave might be the opposite or inverse of the other. Thus, we have the potential for both "bi-location" and "algebraic coupling". However, what is separate or inverted can potentially be joined or reverted. Pynchon jokes that the German word "und" when refracted and inverted might become the English word "pun". Thus, yet again (after "Mason & Dixon"), a conjunction is both significant and comical. Metaphysically, what was once one, but is now two, might either engage in a life and death struggle, or seek to be re-united. Thus, the double can either encounter itself in duplicity or oneness. This is equally applicable to nations and people. Dive-Bombing into the Day From a national perspective, duplicity can result in war, unless resolved by treaty or entente. There's much conflict between civilisations and nations in the novel. This aspect reminded me of Lawrence Durrell's works "White Eagles Over Serbia" and "The Alexandria Quartet", just as much as boys' own adventure stories from the days of the British Empire (subsequently reprised in the likes of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and steam-punk). Pynchon captures how conflict followed from Imperialism, which followed from Capitalism, which was founded on the separation of labor and capital, as well as male and female. The Interwovenness of Desires From an individual perspective, opposites often attract, if only motivated by the desire to reunite what was once one ("the secular expressions of a rupture within a single damaged soul"). This is often the most fascinating aspect of Pynchon novels. His early works were ineffably romantic, "Against the Day", even more so (fewer characters being truly uneffable). This novel is what I'd call "anarcho-romantic", opposing power and master/slave relationships with freedom and equality, both socially and sexually. We shouldn't be wasting our time building wealth for capitalists and imperialists, but punning, playing games and having sex in some new Utopian commonwealth of nations and genders. (I'll give it a go...again!) I Heart Yashmeen Halfcourt The Triumph of the Night Sex is a major part of "Against the Day", as if it's the most obvious activity to engage in at night (when pitted against the day). Pynchon's representation of sex is a product of liberation. It doesn't come attached to any particular configuration of genders, body parts or numerical permutations and combinations, as long as you're having at least one orgasm (each), some fun, a giggle or a look. She is the World For all the sex, this fictional world is just as much a woman's, as a man's, world. Its 70 chapters are a quasi-biblical septuagint. Towards the end, it segued into a nativity story of Yashmeen's Christ-like daughter, Ljubica (literal meaning: love or kiss; violet [see also chaya or etheric double]). However, this is just one of many tales of family, love, romance, passion, flirtation and kissing in the novel. Whereas the focus of "V." was the feminine and "Gravity's Rainbow" the masculine, "Against the Day" suggests that what is paramount, in the night of the liberated imagination and against the rationalism of the pseudo-illuminated day, is our relationships with each other, including and especially family. Perhaps, at the end of the day, family is even more important than mathematics and science. All we need is love. The Green Hour Did I mention food, alcohol and drugs? Meals are intimately described, as if on a menu. The alcohol is as bar-hoppingly diverse as the geographical canvas of the narrative. The drugs reflect the taste of an author born in the 30's writing about the time before his birth. The alcohol and drugs, in particular, enable us to see what is not there, sometimes even what is there but invisible. "Or, as we like to say, l’heure vertigineuse." "The Absinthe Drinker" by Viktor Oliva Oops, I just realised I hadn't mentioned philately or cricket, the latter of which is the greatest game, the game that witnessed an empire become a commonwealth of sorts. But for that, you'll have to peruse the sundries below... (view spoiler)

Armel Marchadour evilray — I swear these just keep getting better and better. These books are like the best of both worlds. Urban Fantasy in Paranormal Romance format with world building, lore, and long arcs that tie it all together but every book has a complete and satisfying ending. This should be the standard format for series in either Urban Fantasy or Paranormal Romance. No cliff hangers, no insulting teases, breath taking action, humorous banter, situational comedy, romance that is present throughout and an integral part of the story but not the entirety of the story. Ilona Andrews always leaves me satisfied and feeling like I'm a fan who is respected. Again I say - this is how it should be done.