I think it's worth noting that there are stories about talking dogs and their history in all 3 of Pynchon's "big" novels, Gravity's Rainbow, Mason & Dixon, and Against The Day
@@offthewallnovels1292 in Gravity's Rainbow there is a talking dog that escapes from a lab during a bombing raid in London where researchers were conducting Pavlovian experiments. Later in the book a whole city of talking dogs appears on the eastern front near the end pf ww2. In Mason & Dixon there is a character named The Learned English Dog who claims that his learning to talk was an evolution of dogs learning to please humans so that they wouldn't be eaten.
I am guilty of always being excited when Pugnax appeared in AtD. Particularly when he asked his Italian dog friend to come aboard the airship as his guest of honor lol In AtD I saw all of the Chums of Chance as being an aspect of Pynchons pyche. Darby in particular was a knod to his more playful and immature voice that was pretty restrained in this novel imo compared to GR...outside "that" scene with Kit and the dog 🫣
@@mikescott4195 ahaha yes! I love that Pugnax got a companion. That’s a good point. I also love that Miles is a mystic as well as a hedonist. Seems to fit.
Really interesting theory. Makes me reconsider the Learned English Dog in Mason & Dixon. Perhaps also a cipher for Pynchon? The dog does after all sort of frame the novel, with a comic appearance at the beginning and a melancholy, ambiguous appearance at the end.
The dog reading Henry Adams is also a big clue. Adams was a key influence on Pynchon. Also, Pynchon was a technical writer (a PR flack) at Boeing. He was not qualified to do actual engineering there. Pynchon did not have a degree in engineering.
What I find additionally interesting in that passage, if this reading was really intended by Pynchon, is that the shit Pugnax produces is the object of many interrogations bordering on the religious from the people on the ground. It does kind of look like a jab directed to the overthinking fans, doesn't it? I don't think Pynchon would have written books so complex if he didn't want readers to overthink them a bit... but this kind of paranoid inducing device definitely fits his style.
All it took was the title of your video and then you reading the passage for it to freight train me in the face that of course pynchon is pugnax! Brilliant hahahaha I never saw that before but it fits wayyyyyy too perfect.
haha, I didn't catch it on the first read through, I was actually going through it again to do a reading about the World's Fair, but I thought this was cooler.
I’m releasing a novel on August 15 called Lionel Lancet and the Right Vibe. It was undoubtedly inspired by Thomas Pynchon.
I just started it and now it makes this book already so great!!!
Enjoy!!!!
I think it's worth noting that there are stories about talking dogs and their history in all 3 of Pynchon's "big" novels, Gravity's Rainbow, Mason & Dixon, and Against The Day
Thanks for bringing this up. I haven't read Gravity's Rainbow in about 6 years. What are the specifics of the talking dog?
@@offthewallnovels1292 in Gravity's Rainbow there is a talking dog that escapes from a lab during a bombing raid in London where researchers were conducting Pavlovian experiments. Later in the book a whole city of talking dogs appears on the eastern front near the end pf ww2. In Mason & Dixon there is a character named The Learned English Dog who claims that his learning to talk was an evolution of dogs learning to please humans so that they wouldn't be eaten.
I am guilty of always being excited when Pugnax appeared in AtD. Particularly when he asked his Italian dog friend to come aboard the airship as his guest of honor lol
In AtD I saw all of the Chums of Chance as being an aspect of Pynchons pyche. Darby in particular was a knod to his more playful and immature voice that was pretty restrained in this novel imo compared to GR...outside "that" scene with Kit and the dog 🫣
@@mikescott4195 ahaha yes! I love that Pugnax got a companion. That’s a good point. I also love that Miles is a mystic as well as a hedonist. Seems to fit.
@offthewallnovels1292 Absolutely!
And Chick is a math wiz and scientist, and Lindsay is the ultimate Grammer nazi
@@mikescott4195 Thank you for this! I never put that together.
interesting -I need to read this book
great commentary! you make me want to read the book again
thanks! I want to reread it myself, but it's just so long.
Really interesting theory. Makes me reconsider the Learned English Dog in Mason & Dixon. Perhaps also a cipher for Pynchon? The dog does after all sort of frame the novel, with a comic appearance at the beginning and a melancholy, ambiguous appearance at the end.
spot on
Very interesting listen. I loved Against the Day (listened to majority of it on audiobook).
Pynchon was not an engineer at Boeing. He wrote for the Boeing in-house magazine.
Thank you!
The dog reading Henry Adams is also a big clue. Adams was a key influence on Pynchon. Also, Pynchon was a technical writer (a PR flack) at Boeing. He was not qualified to do actual engineering there. Pynchon did not have a degree in engineering.
Ah! Thank you for this. I was unaware of that.
Whilst the Henry Adams Pynchon connection has been noted, the passage quoted refers to Henry James.
Well done
Thanks for watching!
Great theory. Probably correct. Ruggles is, after all, a master of the Shaggy Dog Story...
What I find additionally interesting in that passage, if this reading was really intended by Pynchon, is that the shit Pugnax produces is the object of many interrogations bordering on the religious from the people on the ground. It does kind of look like a jab directed to the overthinking fans, doesn't it?
I don't think Pynchon would have written books so complex if he didn't want readers to overthink them a bit... but this kind of paranoid inducing device definitely fits his style.
That's a good point. However, I think it's more of self deprecation on his part, that he is basically creating turds for us to enjoy :)
All it took was the title of your video and then you reading the passage for it to freight train me in the face that of course pynchon is pugnax!
Brilliant hahahaha
I never saw that before but it fits wayyyyyy too perfect.
haha, I didn't catch it on the first read through, I was actually going through it again to do a reading about the World's Fair, but I thought this was cooler.
You remind me of Shia LaBeouf
Inspiraton +10
Ffs you're so handsome -.-
lol, thanks
Nah sounds about right
Thanks for pooping on us.