Pynchonian Timeline

I'm planning on doing the Pynchon lady post, or posts, later. This idea had been kicking around in my head for a bit, and since I have these pictures, I thought now would be a good time start using them.

So, this isn't really an in-depth discussion of what we like about the books. Nah, this is likely much more boring. This is a preliminary discussion of the timeline for the seven Pynchon novels, and by that I mean just a quick rundown of the basic time-frames.

Here are the seven in chronological order by the time periods in the stories:

So, Norm, I had some internal debate about the last two, Vineland and Inherent Vice. Vineland's early part is in 1969, while Inherent Vice takes place spanning '69 and '70. But since Vineland starts in 1984, I decided to place it as the most current temporally. I generally like to think of Inherent Vice as a tale from the Zoyd and Frenesie LA hippie era, as a separate story in the canon.

The first book in that lineup is Mason & Dixon, taking place in England, the tiny island of St. Helena, and pre-revolution America. A Bodine makes an appearance, as does another Pynchon concept (however inaccurate): pizza. The colonies are a wonderland full of magic and resources and and endless wilderness, and the forming idea of America as a thing is starting to coalesce.

The next is Against the Day, spanning the World's fair in 1893 to just after the end of WWI. Another Bodine makes an appearance, I'm sure pizza's here, but I can't remember right away in which scene, Tesla also makes an appearance, and every character experiences the Tunguska Event. Anarchists abound, as do dynamite cowboys and the world was becoming enthralled with science, but what was science? The line today is marked pretty well, but not at the turn of the 20th century.

The next is Gravity's Rainbow, which takes place during the end and aftermath of WWII. There is a Bodine and pizza, and lots of, eh...stuff. This one is considered the first post-modern literature book, and one of the most important books in English since WWII, as well as an impenetrable mess of prose. I found it more rewarding than M&D, and maybe even easier.

Then we get V., Pynchon's first novel. Like Vineland, it bounced between the twenties and the fifties, with the main thrust being the late '50s. The malaise and restlessness of the youth that lived through the war but were to young to fight. Pig Bodine is a star, if not the main character. A chapter here can be found in Pynchon's collection of short stories in an earlier form, that is, the story from the collection was changed up and the characters made it into V.

The pre-LSD and weed '60s is seen in the small The Crying of Lot 49.

Candy-corn treats for the fans of his work, Inherent Vice is the detective novel, Pynchon-style. It takes place from the winter of 1969 to the summer of 1970.

And that leads us finally to Vineland. Split between 1969 and 1984, we get the sense an old hippie is trying to reconcile the failed hippie revolution and the ascension of Ronald Reagen.

So, does that establish context? Inter-textual context, anyway?