Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Slow Learner:Early Stories By Thomas Pynchon by Thomas Pynchon ISBN: 0316724432 Publisher: Back Bay Books Pub. Date: April, 1985 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4
Rating: 4
Summary: A pathology of the young Pynchon, with a delightful intro
Comment: After reading Pynchon's excellent, self-deprecating introduction to these stories, it is difficult to read the stories without searching for, and finding, elements of writerly clumsiness and naivete. The effect is similar to that of reading James Joyce's "Stephen Hero": the realization that even great writers were human in their youth.
I think of the preface to this book as the main body of the text, and the stories as figures and appendices elaborating on what Pynchon means when he criticizes his former self. I would not recommend this book for the intrinsic literary value of the stories -- they're not all that great, especially when compared with the Pynchon we more readily know. But as an essay about how not to write short stories, with some illustrations provided, or as a bit of Pynchon autobiography, Slow Learner is magnificent.
Rating: 4
Summary: Interesting, Fascinating . . .
Comment: These five stories are all worth reading. "Entropy" is no doubt his most famous; first anthologized in BASS and, since then, numerous other places (even Norton anthologized it in American Literature). Pynchon writes in his elucidating intro. that this story is something like the epitome of every flaw of a young writer; but, man, he also realizes that this is his most famous short story (i.e., take his intro. with a grain of salt [whatever that cliche really means]). "The Secret Integration" is a wonderfully sensitive story -- and uncharacteristically NOT overwritten. It was fascinating to see the mind of a young, Cornell Pynchon at work and I believe is an inspiration for all aspiring young writers.
Rating: 5
Summary: very accessible
Comment: for those intimidated by the later works, this is a sight for sore eyes. highly readible yet i would argue that "under the rose" is one of the lesser works of the collection. it seems that most reviewers use this as insight into his later works but for standing upon its own two literary legs. . . . great work. keep in mind that he wrote 4 out 0f 5 while still in college (one as an undergrad and the others, we can assume, as a grad student). the introduction is worth the price of the book, as many have also stated.
 |
Title: Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon ISBN: 0805058370 Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Inc. Pub. Date: April, 1998 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
 |
Title: Vineland by Thomas Pynchon ISBN: 0141180633 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: September, 1997 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon ISBN: 0060931671 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: April, 1999 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
 |
Title: V. by Thomas Pynchon ISBN: 0060930217 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: April, 1999 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: Gravity's Rainbow (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) by Thomas Pynchon ISBN: 0140188592 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: June, 1995 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
