“Reader, she bit him” refers to the famous line from Jane Eyre, “Reader, I married him.” Which, in the context of this particular scene, is enough to put the Reader on the floor rolling around in hysterics.
@ajw99a9 ай бұрын
You don’t give yourself enough credit. You are thoroughly well read and the kindness you bring to reviews puts others to shame. Love this extended cut. Want more of this.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Very kind of you to say; I really appreciate the encouragement. And, just to be fair, I wasn't attempting false modesty here: I was saying this specifically as compared to the likes of a James Wood.
@natashapbooks9 ай бұрын
a 6.5-hour video from Leaf by Leaf is a little too good to be true...a Christmas miracle 😊 thank you
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Many, many thanks for your constant encouragement and support! 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
@joem.85559 ай бұрын
This is my favorite book ever and I'm glad to see more people talking about it. It's a work of art that completely changed my view not only on art itself but has been a huge part of an ongoing process of spiritual realization that nothing in this world is exactly what it seems. Thank you for covering this novel in such a thoughtful way, it deserves so much more of this type of in depth insight than it's gotten.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
That's awesome! So glad you appreciate the video!
@michaelmasiello67528 ай бұрын
My favorite Pynchon novel most days of the year (despite brutal competition) and, you’re right, too little discussed for too long. This video was truly a mitzvah. The scholarly work cited here is a treasure trove, by the way (but also ridiculously overpriced-ILL time, if you happen not to have read it yet!). So glad to see a fellow AtD enthusiast!
@are565 ай бұрын
Reading Against the Day (I´m at page 299 now) is like nothing else; I have this constant feeling of exuberation every time I sit down and open the book - absolutely ready for WHATEVER may come. The use of language; the structure of the text; the way Pynchon navigates the telling of his story through his mastery of conveying a thought process that is both formidable, and quite astonishing. Reading this book is like being granted access to participate in solving a giant mystery, where I have to be clearheaded and focused enough so as to not loose the thread. Is the reading experience demanding? Well - yes, in a way: but as long as you understand that you have to be actively engaged in the text for it to open up, you will feel your brain start to "reconfigure" itself- and adapt to a book that is like no other. From earlier I´ve read Crying of lot 49, Vineland and Inherent Vice, and I loved them all. But THIS book is just mindblowing. Greetings from 43 year old Norwegian man, on a rainy day in Bergen 🙂
@matthiasjentsch27304 ай бұрын
Greetings from a 44 year old german guy. That is exactly the way I felt reading the book about five years ago. And it makes me want to reread it. On a side note. Reading Karl Uwe Knausgard, made me very fond of your country somehow. I will go there for vacation this year for the first time. Looking forward to it and will bring a Knausgard book.
@are564 ай бұрын
@@matthiasjentsch2730 Well - welcome to Norway🙂 Bring Knausgaard - and some extra clothing, just in case. The weather here is very fond of rapid changes ;) Good luck😇
@futurist9999 ай бұрын
Every time Leaf by Leaf drops a multi-hour video, my life is extended by 15 years. Because that is the exact amount of time it would take me to finish the books he talks about.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
HAHAHAHAHAHAH!
@DonGately72809 ай бұрын
WOW, what an amazing job! it's crazy how Pynchon is one of the few authors you can watch a six-hour video on and still want to read it, without the experience being ruined. Thank you!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
My thoughts exactly! (I like your username.)
@dylanreads6522 ай бұрын
I just finished Against the Day this afternoon, and you should’ve seen the way I FLEW straight to this video! Loving your analysis so far, I’m in for a good time
@matthiasjentsch27304 ай бұрын
Just wow, thanks for your engagement. Your work makes reading books even more fun.
@LeafbyLeaf4 ай бұрын
That is one of the highest compliments I could receive! Thank you!
@BuckyHuxley9 ай бұрын
WOW! THANKS CHRIS! I've been waiting for this since you mentioned it in the comments a while back. I am particularly grateful for your presentation of the "Corrupted Pilgrim's Guide," that price got in my way. I did get a professor to get one for his school library, but I still have never seen it. I read AtD when it first came out, lugging that heavy hardback around for weeks. People would ask "what's it about?" and I'd get hopelessly tongue-tied and entangled in my effort to "single up all lines" eventually offering only a bemused and amused "I don't know! I couldn't tell you. It's wonderful!" When I was done I knew it was something great and magnificent and that I had missed a lot because, well, Pynchon(italics). The reviewers were no help. I knew I would need a team of scholars with big high intensity flashlights to illuminate the many zones darkened by my ignorance. Like the math. Anyway, since you didn't mention it I will site a passage that I found very amusing back in those Bush days of '06 and '07 for the benefit of comment readers. Webb Traverse's torturers took him to a place called Jeshimon in Utah as I recall, a red hellish place of cruelty and death ruled by "the Governor." And here a vivid image of W Bush is conjured: "What impressed a first time viewer was not any natural charisma, for he had none, but rather a keen sense of something wrong in his appearance, something pre-human in the face, the sloping forehead and the clean-shaven upper lip, which for any reason, or none, would start back into a simian grin which was suppressed immediately, producing a kind of dangerous smirk that often lingered for hours, and which, when combined with his glistening stare, was enough to unnerve the boldest of desperadoes. Though he believed that the power that God had allowed to find its way to him required a confident swagger, his gait was neither earned nor, despite years of practice, authentic, having progressed in fact little beyond an apelike trudge." I would have liked to have heard your thoughts on the very end. On how the Inconvenience became its own destination etc and the idea of "good unsought and uncompensated" which no one aboard the airship had seen any sign of anywhere. They feel ""it is there, like an approaching rainstorm, but invisible." Thanks again, I loved it and I'll be coming back again and again I'm sure. I was just about to start my second reading. I've had it lying out, looking at it, and now after your good, unsought video I think I'm ready to "put on smoked goggles" and, once more with feeling, fly toward grace . . .
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Thanks so much for this very enjoyable comment--I liked all of its own literary flare! I didn't catch that Bushian allusion, but I did read some remarks on Bush/9-11-related material. Thank you for including that here. (As you've implied, there's enough material in the novel for a whole series of 7-hour videos.) As for the end, I can't remember where in the video I talked about it, but I thought I went into some interpretations of it being them finally transcending their own fictionality. In any case, thanks again for this great input!
@JustinLillich9 ай бұрын
Holy mother, a six hour video about my favorite author by my favorite book YT guy?! Yes please! It's a Christmas miracle!!!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
@thedream-workdoesnotthink45123 ай бұрын
Thanks so much for doing this. I'm going Pynchon's catalogue at the moment. Such a pleasure. About 450 pages into AtD. Love it.
@LeafbyLeaf3 ай бұрын
My pleasure! 🫡🙏
@brendanward29919 ай бұрын
A few days after I start reading _Infinite Jest_ LxL drops a seven-hour video on _Against the Day._ What a Christmas present! Thank you, Chris.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
:):):) Read 'em both to get the Uber-novel _Against the Jest_ !
@robmonkriedlinger9 ай бұрын
Wow - thank you - such a treat to have you give us this on ATD. I am currently re-reading this now... I started in Durban three days ago... read more in Addis Ababa, and am now in Cambridge... Such a rocking read... I love to laugh out loud in public while my nose is deep down into a book, knowing that people pass by looking at me, thinking (and maybe knowing) I am a madman. Against the Day is my favourite book of all time. Imagine Don Quixote reading Pynchon. lol
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Hahaha! I love this comment! Thrilled you're having such a great time!
@PabloReyesVelasco9 ай бұрын
This one is extremely entertaining, long, dense and wise. And so is 'Against the day'!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
You got me on that one! Very kind of you!
@zzelix9 ай бұрын
My favourite book reviewer doing a six hour review of my favourite book. This is the best Christmas present ever!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Hope you're enjoying it! 🙏🏼
@derekmainereads9 ай бұрын
This is tremendous,such a wonderful gift to readers and culture at large
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Wow, thank you so much!
@jacob31559 ай бұрын
7 hour review, what a mad man. Perfect time to watch over the holidays. Thanks for all the work, merry christmas
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Hope you're enjoying it! Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year!
@andreasveie-rosvoll8848 ай бұрын
This is beautiful work. Your excellent analysis and research is just what this incredible book deserves. As a Pynchon fan who adores Against the Day (probably my favourite novel of all time), I am grateful to you for this effort. Thanks
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
I really, really appreciate your feedback and encouragement--thanks!
@YungThot9 ай бұрын
The best on KZbin. Thank you for your work. Videos like these make me love being a literature nerd.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
It truly is a pleasure!
@fadista70638 ай бұрын
This is quite the treat for the close of the year! I have not read "T-Pynch" yet but definitely will now. I saw earlier vids you have on him but I feel like I will be watching this one at least twice...and get a copy of Against the Day (to start) anon. Thank you once again for the most erudite and thoughtful treatment of authors (and criticism) on the tube. 📚🕯
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Thanks so much for your kind words and encouragement! Ol' T-Pynch is quite a fella! Hope you're having a great new year!
@KalleVilenius9 ай бұрын
Much like with reading Pynchon, I didn't expect the singing but I'm glad it's there. Merry Christmas!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
You're very welcome! ;P
@austinjohnbaker95219 ай бұрын
“I’m not that well read,” you say, as you have behind you two overflowing (I see those sideways books) wall-to-wall bookshelves of wonderful books. You’re a modest man, Chris.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
OK, OK, I see how that could look. But, to be fair, I mean as compared to the likes of a James Wood!
@legrantmoore52649 ай бұрын
Great! Will enjoy this over Xmas. Definitely the best book of Pynchon I've read so far (V, Vineland, Against the Day) and probably one of the best books I've ever read. One of my favourite things about the novel is the Lovecraftian aura of Light. Something that is not necessarily as enlightening and liberating as one would think. One of my takeaways at least.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
One could make another 7-hour video just talking about Light and the Aether in this novel!
@enca51189 ай бұрын
I just finished AtD a month or two ago (huge Pynchon fan) and I’m super hyped to work my way through this video 🤘🏻
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Woohoo! Hope you're enjoying it!
@robertnicolay83279 ай бұрын
My favorite novel, thanks!!!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Woohoo!
@nickstory51418 ай бұрын
Another amazing video. We're lucky to have you, Chris.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Exceedingly kind of you to say--thank you!
@carolin86459 ай бұрын
wow chris, finished against the day this year.it was a dificult ride.... 6 hours video, what a present. best channel!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
@Severian19 ай бұрын
Oh God! 6 hours on my favorite Pynchon novel. Bless you sir!!!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
@jauntyjaun8 ай бұрын
My favourite Pynchon after 49 and GR, 6,5h of fun, thank you
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
My pleasure! Hope you enjoy!
@Paromita_M9 ай бұрын
It's a holiday miracle! Time to make a hot beverage and savour this. I have read this novel for the first time in October. Ever since you mentioned doing something with AtD in your Q&A video, I have been waiting with so much excitement. Now it's here! Thank you. 🙏🏽
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Hope you enjoyed/are enjoying it!
@harukimurakamiart9 ай бұрын
Thank you for this Christmas gift.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
You're welcome!
@kittraverse98719 ай бұрын
This work has changed my view of everything. I wish everyone a successful life and keep fighting against the day!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Hear! Hear!
@toddmaclean74449 ай бұрын
O my. Xmas dreams do come true! I feel like I've unlocked the secret AtD episode: "The Chums of Chance do Xmas!"' I've been hoping (if not straight out begging) for this analysis for at least a year. Thank you thank you Chris! Hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Hahaha! Happy holidays and new year to you and yours! Hope you're enjoying the video!
@buffyinthewalls60349 ай бұрын
You always deliver the highest quality videos
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
@rishabhaniket19529 ай бұрын
I wasn't expecting this so early, almost did a spit take. And a 6 HOUR video is almost a course 😅 Every Pynchon lover and would be lovers owe you a massive debt. P.S: I had lost my previous version during house shifting and hearing your plans had ordered a brand new one just 10 days back😅
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Sounds like it's all meant to be! :)
@rickharsch87979 ай бұрын
I'm in the second semester of your course, Dr. Via, and have thought myself ought of my tendency to marvel at your generosity, for it occurs to me that you are very much like the talented, unrewarded, unpublished writer who is creating a vast, complex masterpiece beyond concern with reward. Surely friends will read and praise passages as your followers will, but there is nothing close to guarantee of conventional success. Will anyone ever know that you are among the very best critics of our time? Will you be appropriately lauded? Should you be? I am preparing to review a book and I can't stop thinking how nice it would be if I could give it a fraction of the Via treatment. I'm writing a novel. Will it be good enough to earn Via's time. Nefarious side-effects...and you are simply having your fun. By the way, let me know when you discover the mean bone hidden in your abatomy (probably something virtually superfluous in one of your hands).
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Rick! Your comment has, like your creative writing, as usual, given me such joy. Funny, kind, and stimulating all at once. The only thing I hate about this life is something you've pointed out: Via's time. It feel like it's becoming more and more constrained and thus precious. Yet the requests for attention to writers and their books is proliferating at an unmanageable clip. I've had to start actually outright declining requests, and it really does pain me. I've got a stack of corona/samizdat books that I desperately want to get to (and, actually, I am planning to get to one big one this year, as you'll hear soon!). In any case, I always appreciate your support and affirmation. And, of course, what you do to support and purvey great literature!
@kieran_forster_artist8 ай бұрын
An amazing analysis that goes way beyond the typical permitted zones. All I’m going to say is firstly to thank you for providing such an informative jumping off point to an attempt at this book. And secondly Chris for those early orienting comments about why we read, for that sense of enchantment and that my friend brings it all within the fundamental pursuit of meaning. You mention the word “play” at least twice in the first half. That insight should hit everyone in the forehead : we readers are seeking a playful, enchanted sense of meaning whether we are conscious of it or not. Thus it’s not so much about the reading elite mastering hard books, but about readers enjoying the playful enchantment of the Pynchonian world. Thanks Chris for the effort required to produce this.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
As usual, Kieran, thank you so much for your insightful, affirming, generous comments! If there's one thing I want to do with this channel it's impart a sense of the genuine fun I have reading these books that have attained a status of elitism and masochism!
@kieran_forster_artist8 ай бұрын
Chris, that’s exactly what you communicate and in the final analysis, that sense of enjoyment will be the thing that brings people back to reading as a great pleasure as well as a source of self awareness and meaning!
@GypsyRoSesx9 ай бұрын
Have a wonderful Christmas Leaf&Family 🎄 ✨ ⛄️
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Thanks so much! I hope you and yours are having great holidays and a happy new year!
@brianclary82058 ай бұрын
Thanks so much Chris I am friends with Professor Coffman whose essay you highlighted and passed on your praise to him. Hopefully I can read it in its entirety without forking over big bucks for the entire book. Coffman is also a Vollmann scholar among other things so I think you’d have much to talk about. The fact that critics had two weeks in most cases to review Pynchon reminded me of Silverblatt’s Brodkey interview just after The Runaway Soul was published. The novel was panned and both men agreed that it was because of that same reason as was the case with Pynchon. Now for my second read of Against the Day. Thanks for the impetus to do so
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
The same thing happened with _Women and Men_ according to Steven Moore. The only redeeming factor in these cases is that these types of books really aren't written for the professional book reviewer; they are made for a certain kind of bookworm (à la Silverblatt). So, kudos to the fortitude and integrity of these writers, who go into it knowing they will be critically panned! And thanks for messaging Coffman. He actually emailed me, and now we're having a conversation. Really appreciate that!
@leoquesto91839 ай бұрын
Wow. I loved this. I am rereading Mason & Dixon and Against the Day in 2024. Thank you!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Thanks! Man, _M&D_ is amazing! I've got a video on it out here.
@leoquesto91838 ай бұрын
@@LeafbyLeaf Indeed. I liked that video, as well. Very good. Thank you!
@richardfilanderer9 ай бұрын
I think it’s fair to say we’re in the middle of a Pynchon renaissance. I’m seeing more and more people read and talk about Gravity’s Rainbow than ever before on the internet era, Paul Thomas Anderson is very likely adapting Vineland as his next movie, and the mad man might have one final novel left in him. I really really hope they soon release a hardcover edition of GR as well.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
I totally agree!
@HorsefeatherTroutАй бұрын
He’s too worthwhile. Having been exiled from Leaf by Leaf, by the new philosopher king of the exclusive club’s of the virtual world. Without explanation. Hemlock seems the sensible option. Cross word is the apt term for the metaphor here.
@Daniel_Hochmuth9 ай бұрын
Can't wait to watch the full six hours and forty-five minutes of this!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Hope you enjoy!
@nopenope76549 ай бұрын
I can't wait to dive into this video! My weekend is set!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Hope you enjoyed/are enjoying it!
@Librarypencils9 ай бұрын
This is f*cking incredible.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
🙏🏼
@michaelmasiello67528 ай бұрын
I doubt you will recall-it was long ago now, probably when you did that amazing video on Gravity’s Rainbow-but I wrote a comment in which I poked at you to do one on this great, undervalued masterpiece (perhaps my favorite Pynchon novel). It took me days to get through the hours here, but they were immensely gratifying and perceptive (and encyclopedic, and amusingly “crossworded”-a meta-Pynchonian conceit/gag I loved). What you do is-speaking as a literary academic-invaluable. And your willingness to deal with a work like AtD (or Genji!) in this medium, your encouragement of any wayfarer who might stumble into your video to feel the electricity (the “rustle”) of language, are a bulwark against the encroaching “darkness visible” of a TikTok-addled world. You do my heart (and mind) good, sir. I am at once deeply impressed by whAt you managed to cover and by the overwhelming richness of Pynchon. Think of what you couldn’t include in your own read-through, despite its great, even supererogatory, length: that stunning, pitch-perfect Lovecraftian set-piece in which a city (New York?) is seemingly obliterated; the theosophical and alchemical business involving Madame Blavatsky, and Lew Basmight more generally; the Chums plot’s double engagement with Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth and, I suspect, Halldór Laxness’s Under the Glacier (as that masterpiece is miscalled in English) and the subterranean wars there; the destruction of the Venetian campanile; the rival Russian balloonists; the narratives of Erlys and the Zombinis; the astonishing dream vision of Frank Traverse; one could go on and on. I mean, one could probably write a dissertation chapter on the appearances of gutta-percha in this thing. Isn’t Pynchon amazing? Such a vastness of invention-in some manifestations of imagination he is without peer. What you were able to do, and are almost invariably able to do, was give the viewer a sense of Pynchon’s voice(s): his generic flexibility, his ear for dialogue, his vatic, almost McCarthyan capacity to write of unspeakable foreboding and desolation with what Yeats might call “terrible beauty,” his proclivity for that “fatal Cleopatra” of punning (which he shares with Shakespeare, to Dr. Johnson’s onetime chagrin) and zany humor, and of course, his astonishing breadth of mathematical, technical, musical, and historical erudition. From the mundane “Telluride! to hell you ride!” to the supra/perimundane “they fly toward grace,” that unforgettable last line-you summoned the spirit of this leviathanic novel. There is so much more for readers to discover, but if your treatment doesn’t inspire anyone who watches to seek it out, it’s hard to imagine what will. And you put paid to those early reviewers, too; one is reminded of Swift’s famous remark about how we know a genius (always surrounded, in a phrase that gave us the title of a great little novel, “a confederacy of dunces”-though here I think you’re right that the book involves far more time and inhabation than reviewer gets; surely Wood and Kakutani are far from being “dunces,” after all, and your circumspection and fairness to the early critics are entirely laudable). In passing, I want to thank you for inspiring me to read two novels I might not otherwise have read, had I not seen your videos: Miss MacIntosh, My Darling and Solenoid. You gave me two more worlds I will carry with me always, and, Fates willing, revisit. This year I will get to Énard, too. Excited! And also, being an inveterate recommender (I also nudged you to deal with Tokarczuk, and what a terrific video that was!), I thought I might put in a plug for the scandalously underrated John Crowley-I suspect you would love his “Ægypt Cycle,” a tetralogy comprised of The Solitudes, Love and Sleep, Dæmonomania, and Endless Things. Might be especially rewarding alongside Anrhony Grafton’s magisterial new study, Magus (on Renaissance alchemy and magic). Also of interest to enquiring minds (unless I have somehow missed videos on any of these: the aforementioned Laxness; Jelinek; Perec; Borowski; Bernhard; Drndič; Hodrova; Agota Kristof; Nádas; Alexis Wright, Leon Forrest, Cela, Fernando del Paso, Lobo Antunes, Mulisch… I could go on, but you know too well how the reading life goes. Take these recommendations as the compliments they are: these are all authors or works about whom I, like would, quite selfishly, love to hear your take). Anyway, love the channel, appreciate what you do more than you can know, etc. Keep fighting the good fight; books matter, culture matters, and in darkening times we need them to reassert themselves more widely. Milton famously wrote that "a good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.” We need as many people seeking those treasures again-and not the bellicose drivel on X or what have you. P.S. Is that a copy of Antagony I spy lying supine on the top shelf but one behind you, just to the left of your Dalkey Archive editions of Gaddis? I blame any and all typos on autocorrect , my sausage thumbs, and my senescent eyes. Cheers, and heartfelt thanks for this video!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Wow, not only is this incredible kind and generous of you-it was a great literary comment (I noted your allusions to Barthes’ “rustle” and Milton’s “darkness visible.” Cheers for that! Yes, you’re totally right here, of course: Pynchon’s book is too rich for even several more 7-hour videos! It’s a book to read and think about again and again. Thanks so much, again, for the compliments-but even more for your listing of so many things I didn’t get to in the video. I hope people will read through your comment to glean just how much more there is to discover! Oh, and I didn’t know that that Laxness novel’s title (which was originally recommended to me by Michael Silverblatt) had a bad English translation! Ah, so thrilled to hear I inspired you to read the Young and the Catarescu. This brings me more joy than you could know! I welcome recommendations with open arms! The only John Crowley I’ve read is _Little, Big_ and I thought it was outstanding. In fact, I really want to do a video on it soon. I will put this Ægypt Cycle on my list! Of all of these luminous names, sadly, no, I don’t have videos yet. I’ve read Laxness, Perec, Bernhard, Kristof, Nadas, Forrest, and Mulisch. But it was before the channel. I’ve actually been working on a long essay of Leon Forrest’s life and work for years. Hoping to land it at a bigger venue like _NYRB_ or _New Yorker_ . I will tell you that at least 5 of these names are on my “secret list” for 2024, as I talked about in my first-of-year video. Really, thanks so much for this! So many book, so little time! Haha, thanks, thanks, many thanks, for the encouragement and support! I will try hard to avoid both bellicosity and drivel, but especially bellicose drivel. 😊 Yes indeed, you spied correctly re: _Antagony_
@MaximTendu9 ай бұрын
Longer than your video on Gravity's Rainbow! Longer than your video on War And Peace! Even longer than Fanny And Alexander! You're dangerously reaching Sátántangó's levels here! Happy Holidays and Viva Pynchon! ☃
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
I hope to get Bela Tarr to film my next year-end review video!
@user-us9cf7me6w9 ай бұрын
Just found your channel. Thank you,brilliant work I have subscribed of course and will look at all your videos. Very intelligent and erudite.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Welcome! Very kind of you to say. Hope you enjoy!
@loljoker1279 ай бұрын
love the intro, first time seeing it!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Thanks!
@binitrupakheti42467 ай бұрын
You got me with that first 1 minute.
@LeafbyLeaf7 ай бұрын
😜😜😜
@warmcoffee2269 ай бұрын
Ooo. I'll have to check it out! Thanks leaf!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
My pleasure!
@lucaseravalli49245 ай бұрын
Hi Chris, first of all thank you for this video: it gave me the push to read this book (that I finished just last week), moreover it is very valuable as it provides many thoughts, interpretations, ideas to try to grasp the greatness of this piece of art. I really appreciated the presentation of the scholars' essays - I do think that academic reviews are more valuable that reviews from magazines or newspapers (too quick, aimed at mass marketing and often superficial). I enjoyed every bit of this masterpiece and I had myself some thoughts that I'd like to share with you and other Pynchon "fans": - I think the discussion about phosgene effects and the calculation of "weight deployed per unit length of line of soldiers" is a reference to the book "The Flamethrowers" by Roberto Arlt. The same detailed calculation of the effect of the same gas appears in it and I don't think it is a coincidence - I believe Pynchon should be very familiar with Arlt's work, don't you think? Also, let me give a little "Italian perspective" on this book, as I was very flattered that Pynchon dedicated so much space to Italian characters and cities: he demonstrates a profound knowledge of Italian history and culture. - Rocco and Pino (yet two characters like real and imaginary numbers) beside echoing Nicola and Bart (the Sacco and Vanzetti anarchist couple wrongly executed) use a slow submarine called Squalaccio (i.e. "Bad Shark"). Historically, this system was effectively used by the Italian Army from 1918 (called "Leech") with quite success. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raffaele_Rossetti#Biography But for us Italians, this method is linked to the infamous "Tenth MAS" a specialized Marine group that in WW II became famous for his staunch fighting together with Nazis and, still nowadays, is deeply linked with Fascism (extreme-right Nazi-sh Italians very often collect and cherish X Mas memorabilia). Their version of the slow submarine was known as "Maiale" (e.g. Pig). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_torpedo en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decima_Flottiglia_MAS. Hence, for any Italian with a little culture it is striking to see two Italian anarchists using a submarine historically linked to Fascists (a wonderful, yet painful, thought about an alternative historical reality) - the same eerie and painful echoes resound with the character Renzo that Reef meets in Turin: aviation was another stronghold of Italian Army and Renzo and its love for "uniform with eagles" remind Italo Balbo, very famous aviator and eventually very prominent figure of the Fascism in Italy. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italo_Balbo It goes withouth saying that the description of Torino is perfect, with exact references to actual and important places in this city (that was the industrial heart of Italy at the times) and even drinks (Nebbiolo wine and Punt-e-Mes Vermouth). - and what to say about Venice? not only the scene of the destruction of San Marco Bell Tower is magnificient, but it is so fitting that the sexual "initiation" of Cyprien Latewood occurs there at a Carnival party. Venice is very famous for Carnival, but with a somewhat strange, decadent flair and it is culturally linked to licentiousness and free sexuality (from Giacomo Casanova to "Death in Venice" by Thomas Mann) It is also so exciting to have a character with my name (Luca Zombini) - a travelling magician with a large family (that "steals" a wife to Merle Rideout): could he be my imaginary part? I could go on for hours: it is really so nice to see that the greatest writer alive knows so much about my country!
@Xlornick9 ай бұрын
Remember when T-Pynch dropped that diss track directed towards literary reviewers? "Haters gonna hate hate hate".
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
HAHAHAHAHAH! This one really cracked me up!
@ReadingIDEAS.-uz9xk9 ай бұрын
Best wishes with your being for 2024.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
And to you!
@semiote9 ай бұрын
A *little bit* long? Haha, love it!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Tee hee. My bad.
@antapeastronaut9 ай бұрын
“There are two things that I treasure, and crave, as a reader: imagination and great writing-or beautiful possibilities.”🤙 “Anything Can Happen: Interviews with Contemporary American Novelist” by Larry McCaffery and Tom LeClair🙏
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Just to be clear: that quote comes from me, not the book. :)
@trevorsmith26368 ай бұрын
Wow!! what a great Christmas holiday surprise - I read “Against The Day” 2023 - Absolutely Loved It - Then I read Stella Maris loved that also. I was surprised how the two books kind off fitted well together - I know what you are talking about in regards to humanities and science, having a background in both - PS Thank you for your deep dives :-)
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Wicked sweet! Did you read _The Passenger_ ? I felt like McCarthy opened that one with a real Pynchon style. Cheers to great books!
@trevorsmith26368 ай бұрын
Yes, I read the Passenger and then Stella Maris in order. I did not read any reviews before reading these 2 books. Sometimes I will do that with authors I respect. I just jumped in and started reading those 2 books in order. I'll do that with movies a lot too. Then I go back and start researching reading reviews and and scholarly papers and books if the book or movie has sparked my interest. I am doing that now with "Poor Things" I went and saw the movie and loved it. Found out it was first a book. Now I am reading "Poor Things" by "Alasdair Gray" and have found a new author :-) I will go back and read The Passenger now with that in mind after I have finished 'Poor Things" Thanks for the advice.@@LeafbyLeaf
@marinellamaccagni69519 ай бұрын
Hi chris! More than 6 hours to review against the day? It'll be awesome!this is the end of the year bang! happy December 23rd too.  
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Thanks so much! Hope you're enjoying it! Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year!
@yahuahlove94479 ай бұрын
On the subject of Tom Pynchon, I was really surprised Penguin or other publishers DIDNOT even celebrate the 50th anniversary of GRAVITY’S RAINBOW!!! 🌈 Heard that Tom gave a copy of graph papered of GRAVITY’S RAINBOW 🌈, surely whoever has It I hope would get someone to reprint that copy. It would be a real treat & the acknowledgment of 50th anniversary of GRAVITY’S RAINBOW 🌈! Rockets 🚀 Away & Zoom !!!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
XDDD
@carolin86458 ай бұрын
chris, all the best for 2024!! I have a request, could you please more talk/answer about it, how do you get your daughter into reading? your wrote about devise free time. How do you organize it? every day? or a day in a week ? and do you mention this as reading time? I`,m realy disapointed. I´m a passionate reader and I want so badly that my son learn about the importance of books. He is 8 years old. but he is only interested in internet games etc. I went to a beautiful bookshop with him, but all he was interested in, were the books of his favourite youtuber Paluden. I`m realy disapointed and sad and wondering what I can do about this. I always read to him a lot. but reading alone? no way...
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Yeah, it's really tough these days with the wealth of ephemeral distractions: short video clips (TikTok, KZbin Shorts, Instagram Reels, etc.) have really set the precedent for what kids want as leisure-time entertainment. For us, we have 30 minutes each day when our daughter is to silently read (no electronics). And we let her pick her reading. Still, she's not really into it. If it weren't for us setting a precedent and keeping it consistent, she would just be on her phone all day (like every person around here). Reading books is basically totally counter-cultural now. It's a battle that you have to figure out how to approach as if it's not a battle. I'll really put some thought into this potential video, read up on it, talk to experts, etc. Thanks for the idea and push! And best of luck to you!
@lalitborabooks9 ай бұрын
Hang on boys and girls! It is going to be a long long night. (Sorry for the cheesiness but couldn’t help). Bravo!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
T-Pynch sorry of brings out the cheesiness in us all!
@alexmoss86258 ай бұрын
Man, I literally just started this novel a couple weeks ago and I'm already feeling myself getting a little lost, which makes me worried about the GR situation I went through. Chums of Chance help me out!
@misquotedbuffalo71259 ай бұрын
Against the day, in particular is extremely reminiscent of Shakespeare more so, than any other pension novel. In particular it echoes a Midsummers night dream.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
ooohhhh, i like this!
@liquidarloceluloide9 ай бұрын
WOOOW!! 2:19:59 I find it unlikely that they are the same person because of the way their minds are structured, they tend towards profoundly different things, but even so the parallels seem to be many between the two works. It would be interesting to read the two novels at the same time, or well, all three novels.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Yeah, I have to agree: I definitely don't think they're the same person. I just wanted to dip into some good ol' Pynchonian conspiracy theory for a moment. :)
@jordansatepauhoodle77285 ай бұрын
I think it’s a humanistic novel deliberately disrupted by… Pynchon. He has to know his own effect by now, I hope. Very bitter, in that nobody ends up happy by the end. The first 200 pages promise so much, only to be disrupted. Hard to explain
@jdfromparis62309 ай бұрын
1:08:45 and the joke of the year award goes to: Chris Via for: I'm not that well read and I'm not that brilliant of a thinker. 😂
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Haha! To be fair: I meant, as compared to the likes of James Wood. :)
@RSelcov9 ай бұрын
I watched the first part. I want to read the book first before taking in the rest. I have a copy here that I picked up at a library sale a while back. Now I need to find the time to read it.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
I would much rather people read the books than watch my videos! Hope you get the time to indulge!
@Stray_Penguin8 ай бұрын
As for the crossword novels, if you also enjoy such things, you should definitely check out Landscape Painted with Tea by Milorad Pavic - a beautiful book
@spazthespasticcolonel10548 ай бұрын
Great recommendation!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
You know--on Instagram someone told me about this and I grabbed a copy immediately. I knew of Pavic's dictionary novel, but I didn't know about his crossword one! Thank you!
@redneckinthebardo9 ай бұрын
When I finished Gravity's Rainbow, I felt like I'd finally gotten out of an abusive relationship. I thought, and still think, Pynchon is obviously ridiculously brilliant but devoid of empathy, basically a sociopath, in his writing at least, and I decided I'd never read him again. This video of yours is making me reconsider.
@malexander40949 ай бұрын
"Gravity's Rainbow" is the darkest of his novels. Most of the rest are almost relentlessly hopeful, and deeply feeling & empathetic, especially when it comes to parents & their children. He becomes a teddy bear. But I think "Against the Day" is his most hopeful. And, in some ways, a "second pass" on "Gravity's Rainbow" where forces of light & darkness are in crisis. For me, it has his best love stories, his best science fiction fantasies, his best family saga (continued in "Vineland," although that novel was written years prior) ... "Against the Day" is not just my favorite Pynchon novel, it is some days my favorite novel ever. And it has probably my favorite final sentence in any novel. Don't judge the rest by the hardest one!
@redneckinthebardo9 ай бұрын
@@malexander4094 Thank you for this, and I appreciate what you're saying here. I just finished Chris' whole amazing video, and by the end of it I had come around to seeing that Pynchon had apparently emotionally evolved since GR. It's all basically in line with what you wrote. One thing in Chris' presentation that particularly turned me was his reading of one of the scholarly analyses at the end, where the writer acknowledged Pynchon finally writing whole female characters in Against. Pynchon's treatment of female characters in GR is a massive sticking point for me, and a huge turn off. But, if he improved on that, I'd gladly jump back in to be able to enjoy everything else his books have to offer. I already have a copy of Mason & Dixon, so that's probably the one I'll hit next.
@AleksandarBloom8 ай бұрын
Many writers employ cold, clinical or 'unemphatic' style for the point to achieve opposite in their readers, or to reflect substance they explore in a given work, which they perceive as exactly that. It's not an original maneuver, J.G. Ballard does it in Crash, where he explores dehumanization and overwhelming technological changes that are happening to us. His style reflect it. It is the point. To do otherwise would be either sentimental (as often is in, say, 19th century novels) or simply reactionary claptrap. In fact, my problem with GR is that underneath its postmodern-acrobatics, hides, not much else but bunch of good ol' 60's humanistic, pseudo-liberal truisms. I wanted it to be as you think it is, subversive and transgressive work, but alas! I have no problems with his characterization, because I don't read him for that, his woman characters are as flat as his male characters, Tyrone is a total nonentity, a tool at best... and a main character at the same time. This type of novel will always be in a minority and less popular among general readers. As soon as Pynchon attempted writing 'real' or 'three-dimensional' characters he started downspiraling creatively. Why bother pleasing idiots after writing something as GR? Cormac did the same after BM though!
@malexander40948 ай бұрын
@@AleksandarBloom There is a very helpful framing I have as an anecdote from a friend, who years ago as an undergrad was reading it in a park with friends. An old man walked by, saw the cover, and commented: "Oh, you're reading that hippie novel!" I think about that a lot. At one level, it's perhaps the angriest novel I've ever read (by a white dude) about racism, patriarchy, and technology, and innocence. On another level, it is like a Zucker brothers musical set in WWII. But on still another level & deeper, it is an almost mystical reckoning with the ruining of our earth, and the blackening of its rainbow spectrum of energies, and the locked pattern our species has entered in the past 100 years: of using dead things to make ourselves live. It is also reworking, on several levels, the Orphic myth/narrative. What song can be sung to pass through hell? Can love ever be a counterforce? And what is freedom, really? That's all some hippie dippie stuff. To read Pynchon's novels after, beginning with "Vineland," is to know how deeply sentimental he can be about relationships, whether friendships or parents & children. I think he's beginning to think about that as politically valuable in "Gravity's Rainbow" but only in his following novels does that mature in his writing, especially of great female characters.
@jamesdelcol37019 ай бұрын
I was into Thomas Pynchon's "Entropy". He's great writer.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
That was my first Pynchon!
@jdfromparis62309 ай бұрын
1:19:21 In the case of Kakutani and many other critics who, as you said, work under deadlines, I wonder if the fact that she has a better view of Mason & Dixon can be attributed to the fact that time has passed and she had more time to properly assess it. Many works of art take time to appreciate, particularly very long and complex books that don't reveal themselves within only one or even two or three readings. I'd be interested to see what she said of M&D if she wrote a critic when it came out.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
You're absolutely right there. As it turns out, though, Kakutani did review the earlier book when it came out and she praised it: archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/04/27/daily/pynchon-book-review.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
@peterock42109 ай бұрын
T. Pinch! My musical tastes can run from Cannibal Corpse to Coltrane and all in between.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
High five!
@tobsi22569 ай бұрын
In your definition of *a crossword novel*, I came to think about Nabokovs Pale Fire, as it seems to also be a crossword - or House Of Leaves etc. I think such books lack the encyclopedic aspect of your definition? Anyhow, interested in what you think about this. Merry Christmas & Happy Hollidays, Chris!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Definitely those two books have an enormous ludic dimension (engaging the reader in games and puzzles), but, like you said, I think they lacks the encyclopedic aspect (or at least the magnitude) of a _Against the Day_ .
@TheLifeBattle9 ай бұрын
Does anyone know what bookshelves he uses? Are they ikea billy? Or what? Would appreciate any insight 🙏🏼
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Hello! They are actually built-ins that were constructed with the house to my specification. A dream come true!
@TheLifeBattle8 ай бұрын
@@LeafbyLeaf thank you so much :)! Do you have any bookshelf recommendations beyond custom made?
@tomfool238 ай бұрын
Man, I’m only a few minutes in, but I feel like me and this video are gonna be friends. AtD has a pretty good claim on being my favourite book, but I don’t know anyone else who has read it and, y’know, there’s a lot to discuss there. Amped to watch this.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
I hope you two are getting on well! :)
@isawamoose8 ай бұрын
23:10 more relation to the “globe theatre” Shakespeare scene
@Butterballs529 ай бұрын
This sounds like my perfect Pynchon experience. Gravities Rainbow escaped me a bit, Inherent Vice tickled me, now this sounds like a perfect middle ground! I wish DFW got to read it, seems like it would rustle his jimmies.
@funkym0nkee779 ай бұрын
He probably did read it, it was published a couple of years before he died
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
LOL! I think you'll find that's a good assessment. Oh, and I'm willing to bet DFW's jimmies were rustled back in 2006. (Unless you was just too invested in _The Pale King_ to break for a Pynchon. But I sort of think he probably jumped on the new Pynchon at the time.)
@dorothysatterfield36999 ай бұрын
At 2:14:32 you ask, in regard to William Logan's comment, "Is it true that using landscape to fill the canvas to the frame is the mark of a bad painter?" Well, it's what that slouch Leonardo did with the Mona Lisa, isn't it? Just imagine what a great portrait that might have been if Leonardo hadn't cluttered up the background with all that water and shrubbery and what-not. The guy was a total putz. Three or four days later: I finally finished the video, can't wait to read the book. Right now I'm reading The Sot-Weed Factor; I thought it might be appropriate to follow that up with Mason & Dixon. P.S. I'm having trouble with 8 and 10 across. My answer for 8 across is three letters too short and my answer for 10 across was never shown on your shelves. By the way, I see your books are overflowing onto the floor. I'm sure all your followers have had/are having/will always have the same experience. Merry Christmas!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
I totally cracked up at your first paragraph about Da Vinci! LOL! _The Sot-Weed Factor_ is fantastic! It would pair well with both _Mason & Dixon_ and Vollmann's _Argall_ . I have a video on the Barth out here. As for those clues, for 8 across you're probably just missing the article at the beginning, and 10 across is an OH CRAP moment for me because I think you're right--I think I forgot to include that clip. I make no excuses. Yikes. Talk about a putz! In any case, I really appreciate you engaging with the crossword puzzle!
@Etherchannel9 ай бұрын
If an Against the Day video is over 6 hours long, then the video on Women and Men is looking to be 12 hours.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
* evil laugh *
@nardpuncher9 ай бұрын
When I first saw this video with the run time I figured it was the audiobook
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
LOL! Given that the audiobook of Gass's _The Tunnel_ is about 32 hours and this book it twice as long, that would make it somewhere around 65 hours. Challenge accepted! ;P
@marclowther38239 ай бұрын
I guess that a video that is 6hrs 45 mins long and is showing as had '193 views' after an hour proves you only need to dip in slightly to get a view on KZbin! 😂 But yeah, will absorb this epic review when i'm on my festive break next week. Looks amazing!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Yep! We're starting to catch on here, YT!
@leafyconcern8 ай бұрын
I’m starting to feel like my next video should be 6.5 hours in length.
@LeafbyLeaf7 ай бұрын
Do it! It's exhausting but fulfilling.
@mitchellheath27878 ай бұрын
You should listen to the disintegrating loops by William basinski it about the remember 911
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Reading about this album, it sounds very interesting. Thanks for letting me know!
@alexgdsu77859 ай бұрын
amazing video chris!! you only get better and better. I have to ask though, I was just visiting my brother in Asheville NC and found a book of poetry by Reynolds Price. I absolutely fell in love but found that he didn’t get much popularity at all. Have you read him? I have a feeling you may enjoy him!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Thank you so much! Wow, you were only a couple hours from me! No, unfortunately, I haven't heard of Reynolds Price (I mean, the name sounds familiar, but I think I'm thinking of Vincent Price lol). Thanks for the rec!
@williamgass92427 ай бұрын
Do Barth's Letters next
@LeafbyLeaf7 ай бұрын
A fantastic candidate! 🙌
@andrewmatthews97538 ай бұрын
Potential spoilers.... anyone have thoughts on the ending in regards to Kits story and Overlunch. Is it supposed to be vague and left up to interpretation something to do with bilocation, multiple dimensions, his passing through the gate and coming within sight of shambhala. Or did I miss something in regards to this final scene . Any thoughts are very appreciated
@jasonmorgan50047 ай бұрын
Liked it the first time I read it. Tried to re-read it recently. When I found myself comparing the western scenes in this with something like Blood Meridian, none of what appeared on the page seemed at all convincing. Disappointing considering the masterpiece of Mason and Dixon which seemed 'lived in' and authentic.
@kid5Media9 ай бұрын
Michiko Kakutani as I recall was one of the obtuse reviewers.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Yep. I cover her review specifically.
@yahuahlove94479 ай бұрын
If Tom Pynchon rilly texted you will know his call sign ? SEZ WHA’ Or Don’t 86 , is all! Or He will say “ A Screaming comes across the sky….” Against the Day! Oboy, Oboy 😂 😂 It’s Me, O’Tom! Ja..Ja…
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
HAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!
@yahuahlove94478 ай бұрын
@@LeafbyLeaf Will be SOMETHING! Ja, ja, Ol’Pynchon!
@jackwalter59709 ай бұрын
Chris, I totally believed you about Pynchon contacting you! You're a great deceiver!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
I seemed to have acted quite well on this one. Perhaps I should try my luck in Hollywood! :)
@bjwnashe55899 ай бұрын
Hilarious to hear so many uptight reviewers make fools of themselves trying to deal with Pynchon. This video does a much better job.
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
That was my goal--to use this platform to take a stab at a more proper treatment of such a work--so thank you for the affirmation!
@getwetsoon9 ай бұрын
For one who hasn’t read Pynchon yet (but everything of foster Wallace) which novel should I go for?
@DocSportello19709 ай бұрын
Not a recommendation, but the chronological order I read TP and enjoyed him, is as follows: ---Crying of Lot 49 ---V ---Gravity's Rainbow ---Inherent Vice (Then watch the movie!) ---Slow Learner - Short Stories Comp. ---Vineland (Soon to be a film!) ---Mason and Dixon ---Bleeding Edge ---Against the Day (Never to be a Film!)
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
@DocSportello1970
@jamesgwarrior19819 ай бұрын
It’s NY TIMES or nothing! lol Question…Dwight Shrute delivery…. Would it take me; A) longer B) shorter C) the same D) none of the above E) all of the above… To read the book or watch your review?
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
* Jim Halpert response * "Trick question. Your beet farm is on fire."
@jamesgwarrior19818 ай бұрын
@@LeafbyLeaf 😄😂😄
@DocSportello19709 ай бұрын
Death by Mayonnaise!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
XD
@jackeverett3289 ай бұрын
T- Pynch. I'm dying ahahahhahhhaahha
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
:):):)
@almassucato7 ай бұрын
Does the video has major spoilers?
@LeafbyLeaf7 ай бұрын
I don’t think so, no. Mostly because I’m not sure how a book like this could be spoiled-it’s not that kind of production. Cheers!
@ContradictionKid0079 ай бұрын
OMG
@ContradictionKid0079 ай бұрын
ARRRRRG you were joking!!!!
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Sorry 'bout that! :)
@misquotedbuffalo71259 ай бұрын
Is this reality or am I dreaming?
@LeafbyLeaf8 ай бұрын
Is there are difference?
@glennanderson4969 ай бұрын
AtD is underrated but not on this channel obviously