About this podcast
A podcast about big books. Season One is devoted to a reading an analysis of Thomas Pynchon's 1973 novel "Gravity's Rainbow," and other issues directly related to the text.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 24 episodes
- VINELAND EP 6/7: Voicemails · 1 h 34 minWe clear out the voicemail machine. Included: Proustian Failure, One Battle After Another, Bungled Anarchist Theory, Joyce Comparisons, Dante and His Divine Three-Volume Series…
- VINELAND EP 6: Vineland The Good? · 1 h 16 min · Season 2 Episode 6We are back. Sorry for the delay--we were just uh...savoring the book's ending, and the richness of the text. John and Asher ride solo...together. Like DL and Takeshi! In our…
- VINELAND EP 5: It's The Libidinal Economy, Stupid! (W/Subliminal Jihad) · 2 h 25 min · Season 2 Episode 5THIS WEEK: John and Asher reads through Chapters 10-12 of Vineland, which takes them back in their shared semester at the College of the Surf (John was Asher's RA). We also learn…
- VINELAND EP 4: Keeping it DL (w/Ana Gavrilovska) · 1 h 2 min · Season 2 Episode 4This week: John and Asher continue reading through and chatting about Vineland, a journey that takes us from California to Ohio to Japan and back again. We mull the novel's…
- VINELAND EP 3: Whether Underground (w/Eleanor Stein) · 1 h 38 minAnd we're back! With VINELAND, chapters 6-8. John and Asher discuss inter-generational negation, luddites, the computerized future, communitarian happenings, Esalen…
- VINELAND EP 2: What Was The Hippie? (w/Jesse Jarnow) · 1 h 37 min · Season 2 Episode 2We begin our read-through of Thomas Pynchon's Vineland in earnest, covering Chapters 1-5. John and Asher discuss the amateurishness of opening a novel with a character waking up…
- VINELAND EP 1: Snitches Get Stitches (w/ Noah Kulwin) · 1 h 23 min · Season 2 Episode 1We missed "Pynchon Summer." But just barely! Cut us some slack, eh? In any event, we are back with our read-through of Thomas Pynchon's Vineland (1990). Is it a triumphant…
- Mailbag Time (Listener Qs, A'd) · 54 min · Season 1 Episode 18We open the ol' mailbag, which is really more of google voicemail inbox, to answer some listener Q&As. At long last! We accidentally deleted one and apologize. So if you're the…
- APPENDIX - Is GRAVITY'S RAINBOW an autobiography? (W/ Albert Rolls) · 1 h 5 min · Season 1 Episode 17In this extra, bonus "appendix" episode, Asher lays out his theory of Gravity's Rainbow, as a coded biography of its author, Thomas Pynchon. Also: we're joined by author and…
- EP 13 - The Final Delta T (W/Gregory Marks) · 1 h 26 min · Season 1 Episode 16Covering Part 4: 12...The End. We take an elevator ride to the skies, reflect on "anarcho-sadism," catch up with some of our old pals in Der Platz, smoke out of a kazoo, and take…
- BONUS - Weissman's Tarot (W/ Answers In Tarot) · 38 min · Season 1 Episode 15This week: before we head into the final stretch of Gravity's Rainbow, we stop to talk tarot and esotericism with Answers In Tarot, also known as L.A. Lubuschagne. He offers us…
- EP 12 - Raketen Stadt Of Mind (W/ Jeffrey Severs) · 1 h 14 min · Season 1 Episode 14Covering Part 4: Chapters 7-11. We follow the Counterforce to a surprise dinner, reflect on The World, learn of Weissman's new frontier, and finally reach the THRILLING climax…
- EP 11 - Shine On, You Crazy Sentient Lightbulb (W/ The Computerized Ghost of Harold Bloom) · 1 h 5 min · Season 1 Episode 13Covering Part 4: Chapters 1-6. We enter the fourth--and final!--part of the novel. We discuss the formation of the "Counterforce," Slothrop's dispersal, and a fan-favorite…
- EP 10 - Do You Believe In Magic? (W/ Matt Christman) · 1 h 14 min · Season 1 Episode 12Covering Part 3: Chapters 24-32. We exit THE ZONE. Many BIG THINGS are revealed about Slothrop's purpose, his family history, and just what the HELL this book is about. Also…
- EP 9: The Banana Imperium (W/Noah Kulwin) · 1 h 0 min · Season 1 Episode 10Covering Part 3: Chapters 13-23. Slothrop goes on a boat, and maybe has sex with a child. Then he goes on another boat. And then back to the same boat. Gravity's Rainbow? They…
- EP 8: Better Living Through Chemistry (W/Hamilton Morris) · 1 h 5 min · Season 1 Episode 9Covering Part 3: Chapters 6-12. Slothrop is reborn as "Rocketman," steals some hash, and meets Mickey Rooney, The John E. Badass appears, and does battle using a hot new drug…
- EP 7: The Genocidal Gaze (W/Elizabeth Baer) · 54 min · Season 1 Episode 8Covering Part 3: Chapters 1-5. Our read-through of Gravity's Rainbow continues as we enter THE ZONE. The War--at least in Europe--is over. But the novel is merely beginning, in…
- BONUS - Interview with Prüfstand VII director Robert Bramkamp · 38 min · Season 1 Episode 7Hallo Leute! Interrupting the regular flow with this bonus interview with German writer/director Robert Bramkamp, whose film Prüfstand VII uses Gravity's Rainbow as a way into…
- EP 6: Im(i)polex, Gee (W/Alex Ross Perry) · 1 h 12 min · Season 1 Episode 6Slow Learners continues! This episode covers the entire second section of Gravity's Rainbow, in which Tyrone Slothrop emerges as our clear hero, or the closest thing to it. We…
- EP 5: Use Your Allusion (W/Prof. David Cowart) · 58 min · Season 1 Episode 5We wrap the first part of Gravity's Rainbow (chapters 18-21), which sees Pointsman getting lucky, Slothrop shipped off to the Riviera, and Roger and Jessica checking out a cheeky…
