Gravity's Rainbow

Another book I'm ashamed of not having read yet is:



Gravity's Rainbow
by
Thomas Pynchon

Ashamed because for years whenever I scoured charity shops and second-hand bookshops this was the book I most wanted to find. Eventually I got my hands on a copy, and yet here I am - several years later - still not having got round to reading it.

I picked up a copy of The Crying of Lot 49 in a library sale last week - needless to say, I haven't read that yet either - and Pynchon ("The Greta Garbo of American letters") is one of the authors discussed by James Wood in The Irresponsible Self as well, so I keep being reminded of it. Trouble is, it's one of those big, difficult books. There's a review on the back cover which compares it to Moby Dick and Ulysses - need I say more?

It was 1984 when I first heard of Gravity's Rainbow, in the lyrics of Laurie Anderson's song Gravity's Angel from her album Mister Heartbreak. My musical taste knows no bounds, as the banner at the bottom of the page proves, so I loved Laurie Anderson's avant-garde single O Superman (watch the video here) as soon as I heard it back it 1981 and, after helping it to No.2 in the charts, I bought the album (Big Science - my o-o-o-o-odd review here) as well. Mister Heartbreak was her second album and is much more accessible. It features some wonderful percussion work as well as vocal contributions from Peter Gabriel and William S. Burroughs. Funny lyrics too...

♫ Why these mountains? Why this sky? This long road. This ugly train.
♫ Well he was an ugly guy. With an ugly face.
♫ An also ran in the human race.
♫ And even God got sad just looking at him. And at his funeral
♫ all his friends stood around looking sad. But they were really
♫ thinking of all the ham and cheese sandwiches in the next room.

Come to think of it, I still haven't got Mister Heartbreak on CD
...and I still haven't read the damn book yet!