Thomas R. Pynchon: Spermatikos Logos

Thomas Pynchon is a reclusive American novelist possessed by a certain eclectic genius, an architect of literary structures that range from immense tesseracts to tiny, perfect gems. Charting a dizzying course through the worlds hidden in the curve between the blue depths of Absolute Zero and the ineffable awareness of the Universe Entire, his works explore the vast space between Burroughs’ shlupp! and Joyce’s yes. Author of only five novels and a few short stories, his creations have been hailed as some of the most original works to have been transmuted from the decay of the twentieth century.

Pynchon’s style of writing is unique, electrifying, and complex. A potential map to self-awareness as well as an intricate puzzle-box, this postmodern Deadalus has paradoxically constructed his verbal mazes not to confound, but to reveal. Simply put, his iconoclastic prose is both gnostic in intention and delightful in execution. Like the labyrinthine chains of DNA coiled in the nucleus of life, it is often dense and convoluted in structure, but the encoded message is shimmering, elusive, and profound. And, like life itself, it presents equal measures of beauty and obscenity, awareness and obfuscation, comedy and tragedy.

The Modern Word interviews Zak Smith – we talk to the young artist of Gravity’s Rainbow Illustrated: One Picture for Every Page.

Counting down to Against the Day – celebrating the first Pynchon novel in almost a decade with a month of updates, some big, some small.

Zak Smith's Illustrations for Each Page of Gravity’s Rainbow – 755 illustrations hosted by The Modern Word. A colossal work by New York based artist, Zak Smith, depicting the events and imagery of Pynchon's magnum opus.

The Illustrated Complete Summary of Gravity’s Rainbow – Filled with copious Flash animations and original artwork, Dr Daw outlines and summarizes Pynchon’s great novel. Was on display at the Smithsonian, Washington DC, in 2004.

A Screaming Come Across the Sky – New award-winning orchestral work by David Heuser.

Pynchon defends Ian McEwan – In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, Pynchon adds his voice in support of McEwan against charges of plagiaraism.

New Modern Word forum! – Come discuss Thomas Pynchon and our other featured writers at our new forum, The Fictional Woods.

New Pynchon Novel! – Pynchon’s newest novel is Against the Day, a 1120 page epic set during the years between the Chicago World's Fair and WWI. Partial review here.



Against the Day Pynchon's 1085-page novel is now on shelves!	Gravity’s Rainbow Companion An updated and revised edition of Weisenburger’s helpful guide.	A Companion to V. Spermatikos Logos looks that this guide to Pynchon’s first epic novel, the enigmatic V.

“Interested in sophisticated fun?”

(Introduction)

Or: “Why is this site called Spermatikos Logos?” A short explanation of the birth of this site and an introduction to its parents.

The reality is in this head. Mine. I’m the projector at the planetarium
(Biography)
A small biography of the reclusive Thomas Pynchon, American Writer.

Fragments of vessels broken at the Creation
(Works & Bibliography)
A general overview of the fictional stars in Pynchon’s constellation of works.

Specific Works:

In which the yo-yo string is revealed as a state of mind
(V.)
A page of useful links to material about V., Pynchon’s first novel.
Shall I project a world?
(The Crying of Lot 49)
Links and materials for his second novel, The Cryring of Lot 49.

Infected with the prevailing fondness out here for mindless pleasures
(Gravity’s Rainbow)
This section focuses on Gravity’s Rainbow. Among other things, it contains a complete episode-by-episode summary, an introduction for the first-time reader, and a structural analysis.

Vineland the Good
(Vineland)
Links, guides, and reviews for Vineland, Pynchon’s often underappreciated novel of the Eighties.

Often causing future strangers to remember them as Dixon and Mason
(Mason & Dixon)
Links, papers, and material about the epic Mason & Dixon. Includes Toby Levy’s “Three pages a day” annotations.
“Now single up all lines!”
(Against the Day)
Resources and reviews for Against the Day.

His mind, always gathering correspondences
(Pynchon’s Essays & Introductions)
An online collection of various essays, reviews, endorsements and liner notes written by Pynchon himself.

“What’s his message?” they’d interrogate anxiously. “What does he want?”
(Criticism)
A list of books and articles written about Pynchon and his works.

A legend to be deciphered by the lords of the winter
(Online Papers)
More literary criticism, but all these papers about Pynchon’s work are available online.

Now don’t everbody yell at once
(Reviews)
Online reviews of everything from Slow Learner to Mason & Dixon.

Each utterance a closed flower, capable of exfoliation and infinite revealing
(Quotations)
A collection of interesting quotations, remarks, paranoid soliloquies and other musings culled from the Pynchon oeuvre.

“Direct, though not necessarily live”
(Audio: Books on Tape)
Currently the only offering of Pynchon on tape is limited to Mason & Dixon.

A camera is a gun. An image taken is a death performed. Images put together are the substructure of an afterlife and a Judgment.
(Film & TV)
Films and documentaries that have featured Pynchon or have been inspired by his work.

They stood at the window and heard the Paranoids singing
(Music)
Musical artists that have been inspired by the works of Pynchon, collected by the good folks at KCUF.

“The White Visitation”
(Images)
A collection of Pynchonesque images. Within the walls of “The White Visitation” you will find truth and delusions, chaos and cosmos, dreams that befit the new denizens of an old asylum.

El labertino de tu incertidumbre/ Me trama con la disquietante luna
(Unique Pynchonalia)
A few rare and interesting items of Pynchonalia discovered in the archives of the riverrun Discordian Society.

Before Intoxication sets in, continuing to seek, somewhere in the perilous Texts of Faction, Insult, and Threat, a Line or two of worth, to take home with him.
(Influence)
Writers & artists who have made reference or have been influenced by Pynchon. (Planned for the Future)

Tended lovingly and honorably by fabulists and counterfeiters, Ballad-Mongers and Cranks of ev’ry Radius
(Communities)
A directory of online mailing lists, clubs, and reading groups related to Pynchon and his work.

Someday it’ll all be done by machine. Information machines. You are the wave of the future
(Bookstore)
A very comprehensive catalog of Pynchon works and Pynchon-related titles, directly available for ordering online through Amazon.com Books.

The dreaming Serpent which surrounds the World
(Offsite Links)
Links to other sites relating to Pynchon and his works.

If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about answers
(FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions)
Do you have a question about Pynchon, this Web site, or the guys that run it? Try the Spermatikos Logos FAQ file first.

“Welcome to Dr. Larry’s World of Discomfort,” he would whisper, going through the paperwork.
(Contact I)
Contact Dr Larry Daw if you have any questions or comments about Pynchon.

“Goodo,” said Picnic, blinking. “Man, look at the quail.”
(Contact II)
Contact the Great Quail if you have any suggestions, submissions, or criticisms about this site.

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Who would have thought so many would be here? They keep appearing all through this disquieting structure, gathered in groups, pacing alone in meditation, or studying the paintings, the books, the exhibits. It seems to be some very extensive museum, a place of many levels, and new wings that generate like living tissue – though if it all does grow toward some end shape, those who are here inside it can’t see it. Some of the halls are to be entered at one’s peril, and monitors are standing at all the approaches to make this clear. Movement among these pasages is without friction, skimming and rapid, often headlong, as on perfect roller skates. Parts of the long galleries are open to the sea. There are cafes to sit in and watch the sunsets – or sunrises, depending on the hours of shifts and symposia. Fantastic pastry carts come by, big as pantechnicons: one has to go inside, search the numberless shelves, each revealing treats gooier and sweeter than the last. ...