Schedule for Discussions - Gravity's Rainbow

[Jim]

This is our planned reading and discussion schedule for Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow. Page numbers are from the 2000 Vintage Books edition (902 pages). Page numbers in parentheses are approximations for the 2006 Penguin edition (776 pages). If you’re reading a different edition, these points of reference should get you to the approximate same pages. Pynchon broke up his book into four sections which I have separated into eight reasonably sized parts for discussion purposes. Where a break occurs within a section, I’ve included the final sentence of the section to help you locate the end. Don’t feel like you should stop reading at those break points. They are there simply to make a given week’s reading a reasonable size for the average reader. As you get into the book, you will see that there are multiple story lines going on in parallel, so where we break isn’t that terribly important – I think…


Week One – June 11, 2012
Part One, pp. 1 – 109 (1 – 91)
Last sentence, page 109, “Their footprints filled with ice, and a little later were taken out to sea.”

Week Two – June 18, 2012
Part One, pp. 109 – 211 (92 – 180)

Week Three – June 25, 2012
Part Two, pp. 213 – 331 (181 – 278)

Week Four – July 2, 2012
Part Three, pp. 333 – 465 (279 – 391)
Last sentence, page 465, “They both start cackling insanely there, under the tree.”

Week Five – July 9, 2012
Part Three, pp. 465 – 599 (392 – 505)
Last sentence, page 599, “They put the traditional flowered hat on her head, and hand her the orb and scepter, which in this case are a gilded pot roast and a whip, and the Orchestra plays Tristan und Isolde.”

Week Six – July 16, 2012
Part Three, pp. 599 – 730 (506 – 616)

Week Seven – July 23, 2012
Part Four, pp. 731 – 816 ( 617 – 687)
Last sentence, page 816, “They have something different in mind for Slothrop.”

Week Eight – July 30, 2012
Part Four, pp. 816 – 902 (688 – 776)

Week Nine – August 6, 2012
Conclusions/Book as a whole


IMPORTANT: These discussion threads will remain open indefinitely. If you find yourself behind in the reading or if you have joined the group after the dates listed above, go ahead and read at your own pace and discuss when you want. The moderator and other members will gladly join in!