Slow Learners – Détails, épisodes et analyse

We open the ol' mailbag, which is really more of google voicemail inbox, to answer some listener Q&As. At long last!

We accidentally deleted one and apologize. So if you're the person who called in to ask about the "keying waves" sequence, where Slothrop is talking to his dad...well....we are truly sorry. It was a good question!

Stay tuned. We are starting prep on our next season on Proust. We are currently arguing about whether to do just <i>Swann's Way</i>, or all of <i>In Search Of Lost Time</i>, which is like 9 billion words. Maybe we can do <i>Swann's Way</i> first, and then do other books? And then come back to Proust? If you have thoughts, we'd appreciate it, as we like to put our listeners first...after ourselves, and all our stupid, self-indulgent tendencies, and whims. It may be a few months off, in any event.

If you're not doing so yet, follow us on Twitter, which will never be known as "X."

In this extra, bonus "appendix" episode, Asher lays out his theory of Gravity's Rainbow, as a coded biography of its author, Thomas Pynchon.

Also: we're joined by author and researcher Albert Rolls to talk about his book, Thomas Pynchon: Demon in the Text, which is itself a not-quite-a-biography of Pynchon.

Hallo Leute!

Interrupting the regular flow with this bonus interview with German writer/director Robert Bramkamp, whose film Prüfstand VII uses Gravity's Rainbow as a way into analyzing the history of the rocket in Germany, and the Nazi program itself. Some very interesting insights on how the novel resonated with a German reader. Also...some fun links below! We'll be back next week with another read-a-long episode, which takes us "Into the Zone." Tschüss!

Rent or Buy Prüfstand VII here.

Read Robert's accompanying book here. Note that the book is in German, but around page 201 you can find the letters between Robert and Pynchon's agent/partner Melanie Jackson, discussing his reenactments of scenes from Gravity's Rainbow and their use in the film. A must-read for all completists and diehard correspondence-heads.

Slow Learners continues! This episode covers the entire second section of Gravity's Rainbow, in which Tyrone Slothrop emerges as our clear hero, or the closest thing to it.

We speak with filmmaker Alex Ross Perry (Her Smell, The Color Wheel, Queen of Earth) about his debut feature, Impolex, and about his relationship with Pynchon's writing, literary adaptation, and The Simpsons Movie. Stay tuned for a juicy detail about the mysterious life of everyone's favorite author!

Other topics include: John le Carré, Graham Greene, hash-laced hollandaise, octopus programming, zoot suit fashions, Teletypes, the Shell Oil multinational corporation, bad dreams, plastics.

Read Proverbs For Paranoids, John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow.

E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com

We wrap the first part of Gravity's Rainbow (chapters 18-21), which sees Pointsman getting lucky, Slothrop shipped off to the Riviera, and Roger and Jessica checking out a cheeky Christmas panto.

In this episode, we're joined by David Cowart, author of Thomas Pynchon and the Dark Passages of History and Thomas Pynchon: The Art of Allusion, to talk about the history of the postmodern novel, and how Gravity's Rainbow defines the form.

Other topics include: Chaucer, Joyce, Christmas Parties, if the British put a moratorium on German art during WWII, meta-narratives, Jerry Garcia, Weimar Germany, Marxists, the cult of the rocket, poster pasting, probability, the mechanical model of the human mind, Newtonian reality vs. Heisenbergian reality, entropy.

Read Proverbs For Paranoids, John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow.

E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com

And/or...

Leave us a voicemail by calling (609) 353-6873.

We continue our journey "Beyond the Zero," covering Gravity's Rainbow, Part 1, Chapters 14-17.

And: Alex Shephard (The New Republic) joins us to talk about literary hoaxes, Pynchonian mysteries, how Gravity's Rainbow scandalized the hoity-toity world of arts and letters.

Other topics include: S&M, prosthetic vaginas, church ceremonies, "The Book," by Pavlov, Thomas Pynchon's jump-shot.

Read ⁠Proverbs For Paranoids,⁠ John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow.

E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com

We get further into the weeds, covering Gravity's Rainbow, Part 1, Chapters 10-13.

We're joined by Stephen Kinzer, author of the Sidney Gottlieb biography ⁠Poisoner In Chief⁠ to talk about the history of military mind-control, and Project MKUltra.

Other topics discussed: toilets, jive accessories, having sex with a snake, racism, genocide, LSD.

Read ⁠Proverbs For Paranoids,⁠ John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow.

E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com

The season begins in earnest with this recap and discussion of Gravity's Rainbow, Part 1: Chapters 1-9.

We chat with Dr. Jordan Bimm, a historian of science and technology, about the history of the V-2 rocket, the Space Race, and the mystical/material dimensions of interstellar travel, Britain's most famous witch.

Other topics include: bananas, '50s monster movies, penis-as-dowsing-rod, low humour, Ulysses, etc., etc.

Read ⁠Proverbs For Paranoids,⁠ John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow.

E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com

Hallo Leute!

In this, intro episode of Slow Learners, hosts Asher Dark and John Semley lay out their ambition plan, or "plot": to read through Thomas Pynchon's massive 1973 Gravity's Rainbow, discuss it, and talk with experts about its themes and ideas, big and small, smart and stupid.

Topics this episode include: Prof. Irwin Corey, literary awards, Alice Tully Hall, preterition (and its meritorious price), being feted, Homer Simpson, Boeing, scrambled eggs, Oyster Bay High School, "The Boys," the character of Robert as played by Brad Garrett on the long-running CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, They-Systems vs. We-Systems, hating books, etc., etc.

Read Proverbs For Paranoids, John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow.

E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com

Covering Part 4: 12...The End. We take an elevator ride to the skies, reflect on "anarcho-sadism," catch up with some of our old pals in Der Platz, smoke out of a kazoo, and take a tour around the L.A. freeways with our man Richard Zhlubb. Oh also, we lean what the S-Gerät is, and figure out the final terminus of the 00000 (sort of).

Additionally: we are joined by ⁠Dr. Gregory Marks⁠ to chat about the Marxist/historical materialist dimensions of Gravity's Rainbow. Is Tommy Boy a leftist? A crank reactionary? Can both positions potentially be resolved via some kind of...dialectical process? We have all these answers--and more!

Other topics include: John Dillinger, folk heroism, dispersal, Hitler youth kids and their big fat asses, The Fool (the band), The Fool (the major arcana of the tarot), Poison Ruïn, the fourth wall, self-immolation, Adorno, Freud, reification, the sephirot, is prose writing?, illuminated manuscripts, Asher's inner detective, John not being able to read, and...is this even a good book???

Read ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Proverbs For Paranoids,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow.

E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com