Synopsis
Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon's literary masterpiece of epic proportions, is renowned by many critics as one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century. With an extremely vast array of interconnected and often surrealistic vignettes, nearly 400 distinct characters and a complex narrative structure, Gravity's Rainbow is a relentlessly entertaining and truly unique work of post-modernist American literature.
The plot primarily rotates around the character of Tyrone Slothrop, a lieutenant in the U.S Army, and his many sexual and vengeful conquests throughout Europe during the end of World War Two. The novel begins with "Pirate" Prentice, a British secret agent violently obsessed with bananas, but his arch is dismissed until much later; many characters and plot points are dropped and returned to at different points throughout. The general story then turns to agents Roger Mexico and Pointsman, who are secretly investigating Slothrop, and discover the peculiar actuality that whenever the lieutenant receives an erection, a German V-2 rocket falls upon that location days later. As the story progresses, the rocket becomes a character in itself, whose perplexing mechanical design and phallic symbolism are discussed in great detail. During the novel's first half, Slothrop has many adventures, including searching the contents of a toilet for a harmonica while fending of "negroes", saving a female double agent from an octopus attack and subsequently falling in love with her, and bedding an abundance of other women. After a realization of Pointsman's findings, Slothrop embarks on a continent-spanning search to find the origins of a mystery rocket, 00000, and a substance known as Impolex
G., created by a scientist with connections to his past. However, this espionage is often put to the side for many surreal episodes, as Slothrop spends much time on a ferry, sleeps with a retired adult film actress and her teenage daughter, steels a large quantity of hashish, and dons the personas of "Rocketman", as well as a man dressed in a pig costume.
Among the plethora of supporting characters who appear occasionally, a few significant players include Jessica Swanlake and Katje, the one-time lovers of Roger Mexico and Slothrop, respectively, the malicious Nazi general Captain Weismann, the German officer Enzian and his Russian officer half-brother Tchitcherine, the bumbling American Major Marvy, the incestious German rocket engineer Franz Pokler, actress Margherita Erdmann, and Slothrop's partner and friend, Tantivy.
There are many stylistic quirks that define the narrative structure of Gravity's Rainbow. Stanzas from songs and poems, many containing explicit language and of no relevance to the immediate plot, are often randomly inserted in between paragraphs. During the later half especially, short, unrelated vignettes are focused on such random topics as the journey of a inextinguishable light bulb, a pair of Kamikaze pilots, and a debate on the greatest contributor to classical music. Pynchon also includes many grammatical idiosyncrasies within Gravity's Rainbow, for the word "says" is inexplicably replaced with "sez", and sentences often begin and end with improper punctuation.
In a perfect summation of Pynchon's style, R. Z. Sheppard of Time Magazine wrote in his 1973 review, "It is a funny, disturbing, exhausting and massive novel, mind fogging in its range and permutations, its display of knowledge and virtuosity-- a metaphysical, phenomenological, technological mad comic" ("Gravity's Rainbow Reviews). And while it has been criticized throughout the years for its unorganized narrative flow and mere vulgarity, Gravity's Rainbow is undeniably a truly special and enduring work of art, a modern-classic masterpiece from author Thomas Pynchon.
The plot primarily rotates around the character of Tyrone Slothrop, a lieutenant in the U.S Army, and his many sexual and vengeful conquests throughout Europe during the end of World War Two. The novel begins with "Pirate" Prentice, a British secret agent violently obsessed with bananas, but his arch is dismissed until much later; many characters and plot points are dropped and returned to at different points throughout. The general story then turns to agents Roger Mexico and Pointsman, who are secretly investigating Slothrop, and discover the peculiar actuality that whenever the lieutenant receives an erection, a German V-2 rocket falls upon that location days later. As the story progresses, the rocket becomes a character in itself, whose perplexing mechanical design and phallic symbolism are discussed in great detail. During the novel's first half, Slothrop has many adventures, including searching the contents of a toilet for a harmonica while fending of "negroes", saving a female double agent from an octopus attack and subsequently falling in love with her, and bedding an abundance of other women. After a realization of Pointsman's findings, Slothrop embarks on a continent-spanning search to find the origins of a mystery rocket, 00000, and a substance known as Impolex
G., created by a scientist with connections to his past. However, this espionage is often put to the side for many surreal episodes, as Slothrop spends much time on a ferry, sleeps with a retired adult film actress and her teenage daughter, steels a large quantity of hashish, and dons the personas of "Rocketman", as well as a man dressed in a pig costume.
Among the plethora of supporting characters who appear occasionally, a few significant players include Jessica Swanlake and Katje, the one-time lovers of Roger Mexico and Slothrop, respectively, the malicious Nazi general Captain Weismann, the German officer Enzian and his Russian officer half-brother Tchitcherine, the bumbling American Major Marvy, the incestious German rocket engineer Franz Pokler, actress Margherita Erdmann, and Slothrop's partner and friend, Tantivy.
There are many stylistic quirks that define the narrative structure of Gravity's Rainbow. Stanzas from songs and poems, many containing explicit language and of no relevance to the immediate plot, are often randomly inserted in between paragraphs. During the later half especially, short, unrelated vignettes are focused on such random topics as the journey of a inextinguishable light bulb, a pair of Kamikaze pilots, and a debate on the greatest contributor to classical music. Pynchon also includes many grammatical idiosyncrasies within Gravity's Rainbow, for the word "says" is inexplicably replaced with "sez", and sentences often begin and end with improper punctuation.
In a perfect summation of Pynchon's style, R. Z. Sheppard of Time Magazine wrote in his 1973 review, "It is a funny, disturbing, exhausting and massive novel, mind fogging in its range and permutations, its display of knowledge and virtuosity-- a metaphysical, phenomenological, technological mad comic" ("Gravity's Rainbow Reviews). And while it has been criticized throughout the years for its unorganized narrative flow and mere vulgarity, Gravity's Rainbow is undeniably a truly special and enduring work of art, a modern-classic masterpiece from author Thomas Pynchon.