2.5 *, grudgingly

Really fascinating getting to read Pynchon writing about himself and just, owning up to his mistakes. That introduction is one of the most helpful things I've ever read as a young writer, and gives me some hope that eventually I'll stop fucking up and write something halfway as good as anything he wrote.

The stories themselves are fine, at their best they contain the humor and great line work of Pynchon's novels, but they're all also kind of half-baked and sloppy, with barely a trace of his politics. It's remarkable that a guy as private as Pynchon republished these stories frankly, but I'm awfully glad he did. That being said, I can't recommend reading this without having read a few of the big novels and becoming a fan of some degree of his writing.

Pynchon's short stories are all good and a couple of them are great, but the introduction is the prime attraction here . . . one of the few times the author has ever written critically about his own work. In general, the stories improve over the years between the writing of "The Small Rain" and "The Secret Integration," each better than the preceding one. "Under the Rose" is like the distilled essence of the fin de siecle sections of V, as close to a pulp thriller as Pynchon would write until Against the Day. The star for me here though is "The Secret Integration," which is like a glimpse of a path not taken. Originally published in the Saturday Evening Post, a story of small town boys, Pynchon veers close to the twisted side of Bradbury country here or maybe evokes a dark foreshadowing of Daniel Pinkwater's books. The sad thing about the story is that, in all likelihood, only Pynchon completists ever read it, when it might appeal most to those readers who don't like Pynchon's other work.

Entropia el'integrazione segreta sono molto belli.
Scrittura molto difficile.
Le prefazioni sono migliori dei racconti.

"The Secret Integration" makes for a strong finisher to this engaging collection--a sad but poignant denouement.

The short story "Under the Rose" reappears in altered form as Chapter Three of V.. Published the same year, the two versions make for an interesting comparison of how an author can switch points of view and character portrayal with the same material.

The short story "The Secret Integration" is the most accessible and un-Pynchonlike. To be honest, it's my favorite of this collection.

(2.5 Stars) It took about 131 pages before hitting a truly engaging short story that I enjoyed

The Small Rain — 3 stars
Low-Lands — 3 stars
Entropy — 4 stars
Under the Rose — 5 stars
The Secret Integration — 4 stars

Finally read all the stories, been at this for ages. Great seeing Pynchon evolve. Plus the foreword in this is the only direct insight we have into his thoughts.

Mostly, it's juvenilia, and mostly completely disregardable. There are high points, though -- Entropy is the only consistently top-flight story here, presaging some of the best of the man's work, complete with a mousy girl that screams "VIOLENCE!!!" around the same time as fears of Virginia Woolf were spreading throughout America. However, the best range from pretty decent to downright mediocre. As a confirmed Pynchon fanboy (my library name on the campus iTunes network back around '07 was "Reading Gravity's Rainbow or Gravity's Reading Rainbow?"), Slow Learner was necessary reading for me, but probably not you. As far as Tommys with mysterious backgrounds go, it was more Wiseau than Pynchon.

Thomas Pynchon's short story "Entropy" is what kick started my interest in modern (well, post-modern) literature and it's a little odd to see it again, not quite as good as I remembered it (though still good) and ripped to shreds by the author in the preface.

So what is there to say? Some of these stories are just good, some are pretty darned good and some are outright wonderful. It is a collection of short stories that I would recommend for those too tentative to dive right into V. or are not quite sure who this Pynchon fellow is. I mean, it worked for me.

Πρώτη επαφή με τον Πύντσον.

Η αλήθεια ειναι πως περίμενα κάτι άλλο, δε ξερω τι ακριβώς. Όχι ότι δεν ήταν καλό, αλίμονο. Απλά σε κάποια σημεία ένιωσα να χάνομαι σε μια περιγραφή χωρίς ιδιαίτερο νόημα. Ευελπιστώ να ισχύει ο,τι έγραψε ο ίδιος στην εισαγωγή ότι δηλαδη πρόκειται για πρώιμα κείμενα του. Οψόμεθα για το επόμενο!