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Gravity's Rainbow
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Gravity's Rainbow (1973) (edit title/settings)

by Thomas Pynchon (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

Novel by Thomas Pynchon, published in 1973. The sprawling narrative comprises numerous threads having to do either directly or tangentially with the secret development and deployment of a rocket by the Nazis near the end of World War II. Lieutenant Tyrone Slothrop is an American working for... read more

Summary edit see section history

A post-modern/hysterical realist novel in which the main character is the language - hazy, funny, entropic. The Second World War is the setting for the sexual escapades of US Army Lieutenant Tyrone Slothrop. Strange things are happening around Slothrop. Scientists and Shadow Organizations have... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

A post-modern/hysterical realist novel in which the main character is the language - hazy, funny, entropic. The Second World War is the setting for the sexual escapades of US Army Lieutenant Tyrone Slothrop. Strange things are happening around Slothrop. Scientists and Shadow Organizations have noticed a curious correlation between the locations of Tyrone's beneath-the-sheets rompings and the locations of German V-2 rocket assaults. Is Slothrop singling out these crash sites or are the Rockets following Slothrop around London for another reason? Seeking answers to this question launches Slothrop on a paranoid-ridden tour of post-War Europe, hunting for the mysterious Schwarzgerät and the Rocket "00000", where he encounters a large cast of party-goers, scientists, gangsters and soldiers, dopers and refugees all of whom are just trying to scrape by and cope with daily life in The Zone.

Characters edit see section history

Show all 306 characters
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “"So?" is Säure's customary answer to that one. "Which would you rather do? The point is," cutting off Gustav's usually indignant scream, "a person feels GOOD listening to Rossini. All you feel like listening to Beethoven is going out and invading Poland."”
    Sävre on music

First Sentence edit see section history

A screaming comes across the sky. It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare it to now.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Part 1: Beyond the Zero
Part 2: Un Perm' au Casino Hermann Goering
Part 3: In the Zone
Part 4: The Counterforce

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

  • Paranoia: I can't tell you, you might be one of Them.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This book is in Big Fat Books. (community list)
This is book 347 of 1286 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)
This is book 28 of 91 in The Novel 100: A Ranking of the Greatest Novels of All Time, 2004. (authoritative list)
This is book 21 of 98 in Modern Library's 100 Best Novels: Reader's List. (authoritative list)
This book is in Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century. (publisher edition list)
This book is in Penguin Classic Deluxe Edition Book Covers. (community list)
This is book 3 of 100 in 20th Century's Greatest Hits: 100 English-Language Books of Fiction. (authoritative list)
This book is in Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read. (authoritative list)
This book is in TIME Magazine Top 100 English-Language Novels. (community list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Thomas Pynchon (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Viking Press (first edition), Penguin Books, Bantam Books
Country: United States
Publication Date: February 28, 1973
ISBN: Add the ISBN.
Page Count: 772

Awards edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Adults

Not appropriate for anyone under 16 years old.

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

  • Pynchon Wiki: Gravity's Rainbow: Annotations, alphabetical index, etc.
  • Book Review: With those opening words of “A screaming comes across the sky.” Thomas Pynchon fired his own missile across the breadth of literary conventions. This was a novel that was really unlike anything else in the literary canon. His previous work had done little to prepare readers for this. His first work, V, had been long and complex, but much more approachable. His second novel, The Crying of Lot 49, though strange and filled with the same kind of cultural weirdness that would be ever-present in Gravity, was quite short. But this, a nearly 900 page work, with over 400 different characters, with a story that ranges across the second World War with an epic storyline, a novel that manages to somehow mix humor and war, limericks and songs, epic modernism with a post-modernist sense of style is a clear departure. Much of what would come later from Pynchon would, sadly, echo the style and confusion of Gravity without nearly approaching its depth or fascination (Mason and Dixon, Against the Day). This novel would forever brand Pynchon as an extremely difficult author to read, something that I have had to argue with people about when recommending Inherent Vice, his newest novel.
  • Wikipedia Article: A lengthy, complex novel featuring a large cast of characters, the narrative is set primarily in Europe at the end of World War II and centers on the design, production and dispatch of V-2 rockets by the German military, and, in particular, the quest undertaken by several characters to uncover the secret of a mysterious device named the "Schwarzgerät" ("black device") that is to be installed in a rocket with the serial number "00000". Traversing an immense range of knowledge, the novel transgresses boundaries between high and low culture, between literary propriety and profanity, and between science and speculative metaphysics.

Books Influenced by This Book edit see section history

   
  • Duluth

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