1. Beyond the Zero

I Read Gravity's Rainbow, Part One

Nature does not know extinction; all it knows is transformation. Everything science has taught me, and continues to teach me, strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death. - Wernher von Braun

I just read the first 180 pages of Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon; for me, it’s a page-turner. I like reading rich and full language, and Pynchon doesn’t disappoint in that area. References to the pop culture of the World War II era and images of what I imagined are Boris Vian's novels and the films by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Or, at the very least, films like the documentary Fires Were Started (1943), directed by Humprey Jennings, regarding Germany dropping bombs in London and the volunteer firefighters who had the rallying cry, Come on, chums! Snap out of it! In a crazed manner, Pynchon captures the feeling of being bombed in a city. Perhaps one of the great literary descriptions of what it is like to have silent bombs or ones that whistle before death and destruction arrive. London is also very much a character in the novel. I prefer a specific location in literature, and the urban world, such as London, is always of great interest. London during the war had brilliant aspects due to its citizens' bravery and the ongoing pop culture happening at that time.

As of this date, December 18, 2023, I think of the current bombings in Palestine, which are sadly, no, shockingly painful to read. I refuse to watch footage because the images of slaughter are bad enough, but to see misery done in real-time is something that sets off my ongoing issues of depression. Then again, in a situation that is so hopeless and painfully miserable, perhaps depression is the natural or normal state to be in as the response to the horror. The damage has happened, and there is no way to eliminate the pain and misery. Trauma is an ugly echo that never stops. It keeps repeating itself over and over again. A child is abused, and at times, that child grows up to be an adult, and they, too, abuse another child. There is no realistic purpose for this type of violence because once traumatized, it becomes part of the skin one wears throughout one's life.

Gravity’s Rainbow, so far, reads like an ongoing trauma, which, of course, has a great deal of humor, but I can sense the despair behind the writing. We now have drones, an updated version of Germany’s V-2 rocket, the first long-range missile. From out of nowhere comes this force of destruction. Pynchon adds that his main character, Tyrone Slothrop, whenever he gets an erection or has sex, a bomb drops in that area. This makes perfect sense because where there’s desire, there is destruction. Or that is what religion and Western practices have taught us.

And now on to part two: Un Pern’ Casino Hermann Goering