The Rainbow Connection
you have no idea how happy this makes me
Me too, comment box! One Zak Smith has illustrated Gravity’s Rainbow, almost page by page; they are mostly angular ink sketches, but every once in a while something different stands out. Personal favorites over here include:
Page 6: “Far to the east, down in the pink sky, something has just sparked, very brightly.”
Page 184: “...the garment on Slothrop blazes into a refulgent life of its own...”
Page 576: “Slothrop who tends to play more by superstition than strategy, is obsessed with protecting his knights”
Also, we recently learned that the German translation of Gravity’s Rainbow (Die Enden der Parabel) was undertaken by none other than Elfriede Jelinek, who told the press that for her part she’d like to see Pynchon get the 2005 Nobel: The author annually considered as a favorite plays in a much higher class than herself, said the Austrian writer following her sensational award last year, and described herself with pleasant self-deprecation as a “good regional writer” compared to the “giant”: “I really can’t grab the Nobel Prize while Pynchon doesn’t have it.”
(Jelinek declined to accept the award in person, just as Beckett had sent a proxy to Sweden, expressing regret that he and not Joyce had won the prize: “Joyce would have known what to do with it.”)
yo fuck a nobel prize, he's too good for them
zak smith: now there's a man who ain't afraid of carpal tunnel syndrome.
