Against the Day: 22% checkpoint
Well, here we are. It is Thanksgiving morning and I have read roughly 22% of the text. Here are five of my prevailing thoughts on the book:
1. The scope/breadth is astonishing. The depth? Sometimes so. This is still more than one can really reasonably hope for. The book is incredible in this sense.
2. The family trees that other readers have described constructing are really, at least not at this point, vital. I feel as though I know "who" everyone is...at least as much as one reasonably can in the ATD universe (wherein identity is, at all times and in all places, a highly mutable factor...but isn't this so in the universe beyond ATD?) But yes, in terms of lineage, things are still relatively clear cut at this point.
3. Subplots pass at different paces. This, of course, varies on a reader-to-reader basis. For me:
(The number of stars...1=least, 5=most...so [Convolution:*] would be not-so-Byzantine and [Convolution:*****] would be, well, to suggest that reading this subplot is on par with navigating the Labyrinth. Interest is the interest I take in that narrative arc. Convolution is the sheer number of people, places, narrative strands, events, etc. Complication is the amount of background knowledge one senses they need to successfully navigate the arc.
1. The Tesla subplot:
[Interest: *****] Very interesting! See description below.
[Convolution: **] Pretty straightforward at this point.
[Complication: ***] A bit of scientific/mathematical background/research required.
For me, the Tesla subplot is the most enjoyable subplot. The mathematical concepts totally work here. This is also helped along by my peculiar admiration for Kit (the son of an anarchist who "sells his soul" to capitalism to attend Yale to study Vectors). I love Tesla's character and Vanderjuice amuses me. I just love this subplot. The entire dilemma of placing prices on creative/intellectual output really - and I suppose reasonably - speaks to me.
2. The airship (Chums of Chance adventure) subplot:
[Interest: *****] Also very interesting! See description below.
[Convolution: *] Very straightforward; even with the phantom polar crew member!
[Complication: **] You can read into the technology, geography, and aeronautics a bit.
For me, this one comes in second - the technology on the ship appeals to my retro-futurist sensibilities and I find myself actually amused by the antics of Pugnax (which some might chalk up to simple Pynchon goofiness...and it sort of is. I generally find myself rolling my eyes but loving every appearance). The Chums of Chance operate as characters not only in this text, but in a text within the text. At one point, Reef (Webb's son, Colorado subplot) is reading a CoC novel to his father's lifeless corpse as they make their way through the desert toward the miner's cemetery in up in Colorado.
3. The Wild West subplot:
[Interest: ****] Pretty interesting. Pynchon riffs on the Frontier theme yet again.
[Convolution: *] Keep up with the family trees and you're golden (haha, I'm so very witty!)
[Complication: *] Brush up on your Western geography? Just pretend you know? Good enough.
I really like this one too. Anarchists blowing up mines and railroads. An analysis of railroads as being the veins of a nation through which the lifeblood of capital flows. The tracks are often depicted as being alive - not only through the lives of those who build and use them, but as being inherently, in-and-of-themselves, alive. The drug theme plays a significant role in this subplot, with the drug of choice being Nitro. Various characters actually ingest the Nitro and become addicts - craving more, becoming one with explosions as their mental chemistry alters...yeah. This could reasonably be called the explosion and vice subplot - I also enjoy this one a lot.
(The rest)
4. The England subplot:
[Interest: ***] Interesting, but complicated...and still (only seemingly) random at this point.
[Convolution: *****] Uh...um...err....ah...weelll....
[Complication: ****] Know your Eurasian history and Geography. Assimilate enough patience to crabwalk across the hypothetical grand mass (assuming that the Arctic isn't hollow on top...hmm...maybe Vibe or one of his old buddies is...closing it?? Wow!! I wonder!...hm..uh, disregard that unless you're reading too.)
Two Oscar Wildesque Brits pick up Lew after he has been exploded near a creek in Colorado. He goes over to England with them, narrowly escaping the Galveston hurricane (a familiar touch for a reader in Texas). There he falls in with a "spiritual" organization with heavy ties to the intelligensia, intent on persecuting the perpetrators of the crime of History:
"'...no, it is more of an ongoing Transgression, accumulating as the days pass, the invasion of Time into a timeless world. Revealed to us, slowly, one hopes not terribly, in a bleak convergence...History if you like.'
[...]
'Suppose there were no such thing, after all, as Original Sin. Suppose the Serpent in the Garden of Eden was never symbolic, but a real being in a real history of intrusion from somewhere else. Say from 'behind the sky.' Say we were perfect. We were law-abiding and clean. Then one day they arrived'" (ATD 223).
So anyway, the perpetrators of this crime all embody the cards of the Tarot. But the embodiment isn't number or gender specific, so an army can be one card. A woman can be the male fool...you get the idea.
Uh, then...there are railroads? The Eastern Question. The grand continent. The organic railroad returns. Uh, just...yeah. I cannot really explain it yet. But yeah, this subplot is rather interesting, but kind of complicated. Do keep in mind that the vast majority of "complication" in Pynchon is really a question/result/matter of your background/exposure. Anyway, having stated that, I will not really try to get into it at this point. If it remains a fundamental subplot, I will devote an entry to it later.
Well, I guess this isn't really a summary of these pages, but it will have to suffice...because I want to go read! I'm not at the best of stopping points at the moment and so there are, of course, a vast number of loose ends. I will write again when I reach the gateway to book three (page 429, roughly 40% of the way through).
1. The scope/breadth is astonishing. The depth? Sometimes so. This is still more than one can really reasonably hope for. The book is incredible in this sense.
2. The family trees that other readers have described constructing are really, at least not at this point, vital. I feel as though I know "who" everyone is...at least as much as one reasonably can in the ATD universe (wherein identity is, at all times and in all places, a highly mutable factor...but isn't this so in the universe beyond ATD?) But yes, in terms of lineage, things are still relatively clear cut at this point.
3. Subplots pass at different paces. This, of course, varies on a reader-to-reader basis. For me:
(The number of stars...1=least, 5=most...so [Convolution:*] would be not-so-Byzantine and [Convolution:*****] would be, well, to suggest that reading this subplot is on par with navigating the Labyrinth. Interest is the interest I take in that narrative arc. Convolution is the sheer number of people, places, narrative strands, events, etc. Complication is the amount of background knowledge one senses they need to successfully navigate the arc.
1. The Tesla subplot:
[Interest: *****] Very interesting! See description below.
[Convolution: **] Pretty straightforward at this point.
[Complication: ***] A bit of scientific/mathematical background/research required.
For me, the Tesla subplot is the most enjoyable subplot. The mathematical concepts totally work here. This is also helped along by my peculiar admiration for Kit (the son of an anarchist who "sells his soul" to capitalism to attend Yale to study Vectors). I love Tesla's character and Vanderjuice amuses me. I just love this subplot. The entire dilemma of placing prices on creative/intellectual output really - and I suppose reasonably - speaks to me.
2. The airship (Chums of Chance adventure) subplot:
[Interest: *****] Also very interesting! See description below.
[Convolution: *] Very straightforward; even with the phantom polar crew member!
[Complication: **] You can read into the technology, geography, and aeronautics a bit.
For me, this one comes in second - the technology on the ship appeals to my retro-futurist sensibilities and I find myself actually amused by the antics of Pugnax (which some might chalk up to simple Pynchon goofiness...and it sort of is. I generally find myself rolling my eyes but loving every appearance). The Chums of Chance operate as characters not only in this text, but in a text within the text. At one point, Reef (Webb's son, Colorado subplot) is reading a CoC novel to his father's lifeless corpse as they make their way through the desert toward the miner's cemetery in up in Colorado.
3. The Wild West subplot:
[Interest: ****] Pretty interesting. Pynchon riffs on the Frontier theme yet again.
[Convolution: *] Keep up with the family trees and you're golden (haha, I'm so very witty!)
[Complication: *] Brush up on your Western geography? Just pretend you know? Good enough.
I really like this one too. Anarchists blowing up mines and railroads. An analysis of railroads as being the veins of a nation through which the lifeblood of capital flows. The tracks are often depicted as being alive - not only through the lives of those who build and use them, but as being inherently, in-and-of-themselves, alive. The drug theme plays a significant role in this subplot, with the drug of choice being Nitro. Various characters actually ingest the Nitro and become addicts - craving more, becoming one with explosions as their mental chemistry alters...yeah. This could reasonably be called the explosion and vice subplot - I also enjoy this one a lot.
(The rest)
4. The England subplot:
[Interest: ***] Interesting, but complicated...and still (only seemingly) random at this point.
[Convolution: *****] Uh...um...err....ah...weelll....
[Complication: ****] Know your Eurasian history and Geography. Assimilate enough patience to crabwalk across the hypothetical grand mass (assuming that the Arctic isn't hollow on top...hmm...maybe Vibe or one of his old buddies is...closing it?? Wow!! I wonder!...hm..uh, disregard that unless you're reading too.)
Two Oscar Wildesque Brits pick up Lew after he has been exploded near a creek in Colorado. He goes over to England with them, narrowly escaping the Galveston hurricane (a familiar touch for a reader in Texas). There he falls in with a "spiritual" organization with heavy ties to the intelligensia, intent on persecuting the perpetrators of the crime of History:
"'...no, it is more of an ongoing Transgression, accumulating as the days pass, the invasion of Time into a timeless world. Revealed to us, slowly, one hopes not terribly, in a bleak convergence...History if you like.'
[...]
'Suppose there were no such thing, after all, as Original Sin. Suppose the Serpent in the Garden of Eden was never symbolic, but a real being in a real history of intrusion from somewhere else. Say from 'behind the sky.' Say we were perfect. We were law-abiding and clean. Then one day they arrived'" (ATD 223).
So anyway, the perpetrators of this crime all embody the cards of the Tarot. But the embodiment isn't number or gender specific, so an army can be one card. A woman can be the male fool...you get the idea.
Uh, then...there are railroads? The Eastern Question. The grand continent. The organic railroad returns. Uh, just...yeah. I cannot really explain it yet. But yeah, this subplot is rather interesting, but kind of complicated. Do keep in mind that the vast majority of "complication" in Pynchon is really a question/result/matter of your background/exposure. Anyway, having stated that, I will not really try to get into it at this point. If it remains a fundamental subplot, I will devote an entry to it later.
Well, I guess this isn't really a summary of these pages, but it will have to suffice...because I want to go read! I'm not at the best of stopping points at the moment and so there are, of course, a vast number of loose ends. I will write again when I reach the gateway to book three (page 429, roughly 40% of the way through).
posted by Cate | 7:48 AM
3 Comments:
The concept of the railroad as “organic” took me back to grade school…a hundred years ago! We were taught to think of the railroad system as arteries and veins crisscrossing the United States, enabling western expansion and sustaining the country’s growth during the mid 1800s to the early 1900s. In some of our textbooks, in fact, the major rail lines were highlighted in blue and the small railroads branching off from them were highlighted in red, in the same way that human anatomy books color veins and arteries. In fact, in our textbooks the rail system looked “organic” now that I think of it. I’d long since forgotten about this until I read your blog!
My impression was that the Terot people were in opposition to the forces that caused evil in the world.
also, what about the other-timelines/complex-plane/metaverse subplot? or is that a theme throughout all of the subplots?
my most confused place: the snake-like creature unearth from the ice-tomb in one of the alternative timelines. wtf?
-jordan
i had only to read one page more to realize that you were totally right about the Terot people.
-j
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