Pynchon Works: “Against the Day”
- At January 12, 2021
- By Spermatikos Logos
- In Pynchon, The Modern Word
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It isn’t only the difficult terrain, the vipers and sandstorms and raiding parties. The journey itself is a kind of conscious Being, a living deity who does not wish to engage with the foolish or the weak, and hence will try to dissuade you. It insists on the furthest degree of respect.
Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day
Against the Day
Penguin, 2006.
Penguin, 2006.
Against the Day
Penguin, 2007.
Penguin, 2007.
Pynchon dropped a bomb in 2006 with this massive work, a book so big in every sense that almost every word spoken for and against it has a point. Spermatikos Logos celebrated the event with partial review of the book as seen from one-quarter of the way in. Hopefully, more words on this remarkable book will come in a future expansion. Until then, this page is devoted to materials relating to Against the Day. It contains links to resources, book reviews, and academic papers. If you have anything to add—including yourself, Mr. Pynchon—please email us. And please, drop us a line if you can explain why so many critics feel the need to begin their reviews with a bad puns.
Spermatikos Logos Resources
Modern Word Review — The Modern Word’s (early) review of Against the Day. [Coming Soon]
Against the Day Criticism — Criticism and reader’s guides about Against the Day.
Offsite Resources
Against the Day Wiki — A growing resource for readers of Against the Day, this amazing wiki is open to contributions. Absolutely essential.
Against the Day Links — Otto Sell’s fabulous collection of links to Against the Day resources.
The Chumps of Choice — Once dedicated to a group reading of Against the Day, this blog still contains useful insights into Pynchon’s sprawling novel.
Steampunk Scholar: Against the Day — Mike Perschon’s blog looks at Against the Day from a genre perspective.
Against the Day on Amazon — A convenient source for purchasing the novel and browsing various reader reviews.
Against the Day Group Reading — The Reddit Pynchon group started a group reading of Against the Day on November 2021. It’s scheduled to go until March 2022.
Selected Articles
Slate, 19 July 2006. Troy Patterson discusses the unique publicity circumstances surrounding the release of Against the Day.
Time, 20 October 2006. A discussion of Pynchon’s forthcoming novel, Against the Day.
New York’s Daily Intelligencer, November 21, 2006. A report on the midnight sale of Against the Day at Saint Mark’s Bookshop in New York.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 28, 2006. A forum for readers to share early thoughts on Against the Day.
East Bay Express, December 6, 2006. An interview with Tim Ware, founder of the Pynchon Wiki and editor of ThomasPynchon.com.
Selected Reviews
The Phoenix, November 14, 2006. Keough calls Pynchon the “anti-Beckett.”
Time Magazine, November 14, 2006. A mixed review that closes with the belief that Pynchon has “Jumped the Shark.”
New York Sun, November 15, 2006. After curiously dismising the novel as a mere collection of lists, Kirsch laments that Pynchon’s response to violence is “childishly sentimental.” It closes by sateing that “Thomas Pynchon is no longer the novelist we need.”
Inside Higher Ed, November 15, 2006. “To discuss the book adequately would demand a seminar lasting four months, which is also the ideal period required for reading the book — instead of the four days it took one reviewer, who then promptly had a mild nervous breakdown.” Nevertheless, McLemee provides a charmingly personal account of his attempt, and manages to pull a few excellent observations from his breakdown.
The Guardian, November 18, 2006. Crime writer Ian Rankin talkes about Pynchon, his work, and anticipates reading Against the Day.
Boston Globe, November 19, 2006. Feeney takes delight in the book, “rich and sweeping, wild and filling.”
Washington Post November 19, 2006. Although Moore praises the novel, he reasonably concludes, “Pynchon fans will accept this gift from the author with gratitude, but I’m not so sure about mainstream readers.”
LA Times, November 19, 2006. Sorrentino examines the novel’s complexities and themes of paranoia.
New Yorker, November 20, 2006. Menand feels a mix of frustration and awe with Pynchon’s “dizzy” sprawl.
USA Today, November 20, 2006. In this lightweight, cursory review, Minzesheimer finds the book “raunchy, funny, digressive, brilliant, [and] exasperating.”
Dissident Voice, November 20, 2006. In this glowing review, Jacobs makes an eloquent case for the novel’s relevance: “This novel leads to the beginning of the human catastrophe we now call history: the Twentieth Century.”
New York Times, November 20, 2006. Unsurprisingly, Michiko Kakutani finds the book “a humongous, bloated jigsaw puzzle of a story, pretentious without being provocative, elliptical without being illuminating, complicated without being rewardingly complex.” Let the reader beware. But still: a great title for a review!
The Guardian, November 21, 2006. Crace dismisses the book—which he has admittedly not read—with a strange mix of hostility and prideful ignorance: “If Pynchon is a genius, then his talents lie in marketing rather than writing.” Oh, Guardian.
Salon.com, November 21, 2006. In a fairly snarky review, Miller finds the book an overwrought slog, and contends that Pynchon’s “disciples” such as David Foster Wallace and Neal Stephenson have far surpassed him. Although it falls short of an outright hatchet-job, it’s clear that Miller has different ideas of “surer, more nuanced, more adult” fiction that the average Pynchon reader. Also, it would be nice if she could outgrow the use of the royal “we.”
The Nation, November 22, 2006. A rolling an exuberant review that takes a pretty funny shot at The New Republic as well.
The Guardian Observer, November 26, 2006. After a lengthy discussion of the Pynchon “cult,” Gale agrees with the opinion expressed by many reviewers: “All that is glorious and exhilarating about Pynchon is found here, but the problems of scale are taxing.”
New York Times Sunday Book Review, November 26, 2006. Schillinger gives Against the Day a suitably long and nuanced review. Highly Recommended. Not sure about the illustration, though….
Sci Fi Weekly, November 27, 2006. Science fiction writer John Clute praises the breadth of Pynchon’s vision in this literate and engaging review. Highly recommended.
Chicago Reader, December 1, 2006. A somewhat tentative review that explores Pynchon’s need for excess.
Newsweek, December 1, 2006. The final installment of a three-piece review, the title says it all. It’s worth reading all three installments, as well—the delightful Jones writes with wit and honesty, and makes some fine observations.
The Guardian, December 1, 2006. Comments on the reception of Against the Day in the UK press.
Financial Times, December 2, 2006. Beginning with a discussion of Pynchon and his reclusivity, Hunter-Tilney ultimately finds Against the Day a disappointment.
The Times, December 2, 2006. Kennedy compares Against the Day to Wagner’s Ring Cycle: “Well, it has some terrific quarter-of-an-hours.”
New York, December 4, 2006. Gessen reads many modern-day parallels into a novel he considers twisted, paranoid, and fun.
Houston Chronicle, December 1, 2006. Doody, for the most part a Pynchon fan, offers an angry review that is best summed up by its title.
Globe and Mail, December 2, 2006. Hollingshead throws his hat into the “It’s no Gravity’s Rainbow” ring, contending that Pynchon has gone too deep into his own head.
Village Voice, December 7, 2006. A favorable if slightly precious review, Haskell frequently suggests that the novel could be shorter and more focused.
Denver Post, December 9, 2006. A generally positive review that describes the basics of the novel and touches on its political message.
Washington Times, December 10, 2006. Allen’s positive review looks at the Snovian aspects of the plot, which straddles the “two cultures of science and literature.”
Sunday Times, December 10, 2006. “It’s a Moby Dick with no Ahab, and no whale.” This is the review James Wood would call “joyless.”
San Francisco Chronicle, December 10, 2006. Hellman echoes the by-now standard review: “…despite all the noxious flimflam, the glacial pacing and the self-indulgent and seemingly never-ending prattle, there is actually a remarkably accomplished and worthwhile novel buried in here.”
The Independent, December 15, 2006. In a frustrated but often humorous review, Goldblatt finds the novel not to his taste, stylistically or philosophically.
Sydney Morning Herald, December 15, 2006. A level review with a nice illustration, Macris finds it “less a novel than an enormous new planet freshly arrived in the Pynchonian solar system.”
Austin Chronicle, December 15, 2006. “Pynchon’s writing style—in turn blindingly precise and beautifully oblique, here bearing an emotional weight, as well—demands that you not decide, but think.”
Rain Taxi, Winter 2006/2007. A lucid and balanced review that examines Against the Day as an extension of Pynchon’s lifelong project.
The New Republic, 5 March 2007. James Wood offers a characteristically thoughtful and nuanced take on the novel, one responding to other contemporary reviews. Highly recommended.
Green Man Review, 4 February 2017. An enthusiastic review that remarks on the pleasure of reading Pynchon.
Pynchon Works:
[Main Page | Short Stories | V. | Crying of Lot 49 | Gravity’s Rainbow | Vineland | Mason & Dixon | Against the Day | Inherent Vice | Bleeding Edge]
[Main Page | Short Stories | V. | Crying of Lot 49 | Gravity’s Rainbow | Vineland | Mason & Dixon | Against the Day | Inherent Vice | Bleeding Edge]
Authors: Allen B. Ruch & Dr Larry Daw
Last Modified: 27 November 2021
Main Pynchon Page: Spermatikos Logos
Contact: quail(at)shipwrecklibrary(dot)com
Last Modified: 27 November 2021
Main Pynchon Page: Spermatikos Logos
Contact: quail(at)shipwrecklibrary(dot)com