Finished rereading Vineland today. First read it when it came out in 1990 and I don’t recall reading it again until recently, 35 years later. I’ve recently reread Inherent Vice, and of course, Shadow Ticket, his most recent and often, when idle, between books, I’ll pull one of his books down, open it randomly and read for a few days. Also reread “Against The Day” this year as well.
I pulled Vineland off the shelf because of mention on the “Things you just watched on netflix/streaming video …” thread on Ars Technica referencing to that new film “One Battle After Another.” Not remembering the plot line after all this time, it was a great to read it again. I recall the principle characters but, as usual with Pynchon, the word craft, subplots, asides and other intricacies are what makes his work worthwhile.
I can kinda see the main plot line working for a film, but again, the extra textures are going to be missed, as they were in Inherent Vice. Also, with all this crap going on with ICE and the retribution tour from the current regime, much of the background context in the book seemed relevant today.
Vineland P 265
Then again, it’s the whole Regan program, isn’t it – dismantle the New Deal, reverse the effects of WWII, restore fascism at home and around the world, flee into the past, can’t you feel it, all the dangerous childish stupidity –
Highly recommended, a quick Kagi search on Vineland will turn up all kinds of summaries and opinions, some quite detailed. Pynchon generates quite a wake when he publishes.