Against the Day

Thomas Pynchon

ISBN 10: 159420120X / ISBN 13: 9781594201202

Edité par The Penguin Press, New York, 2006

Against the Day; Thomas Pynchon; The Penguin Press, New York, 2006. First edition.
From the blurb ? Spanning the period between the Chicago World?s Fair of 1893 and the years just after World War I, Against the Day moves from the labor troubles in Colorado to turn-of-the-last-century New York to London and Gottingen, Venice and Vienna, the Balkans, Central Asia, Siberia at the time of the mysterious Tunguska Event, Mexico during the revolution, postwar Paris, silent-era Hollywood, and one or two places not strictly on the map at all.
With a worldwide disaster looming just a few years ahead, it is a time of unrestrained corporate greed, false religiosity, moronic fecklessness, and evil intent in high places.
The sizeable cast of characters includes anarchists, balloonists, gamblers, corporate tycoons, drug enthusiasts, innocents and decadents, mathematicians, mad scientists, shamans, psychics and stage magicians, spies, detectives, adventuresses, and hired guns. There are cameo appearances by Nikolai Telsa, Bela Lugosi and Groucho Marx.
As an era of uncertainty comes crashing down around their ears and an unpredictable future commences, these folks are mostly just trying to pursue their lives. Sometimes they manage to catch up; sometimes it?s their lives that pursue them.
Meanwhile, Thomas Pynchon is up to his usual business. Characters stop what they?re doing to sing what are for the most part stupid songs. Strange and weird sexual practices take place. Obscure languages are spoken, not always idiomatically. Contrary-to-fact occurrences occur. Maybe it?s not the world, but with a minor adjustment or two it?s what the world might be.
This fat book, 1085 pages is near-fine condition. The dust jacket is also in near-fine condition. When this dealer went to remove the dust jacket in order to put on a mylar protective cover the dust jacket would not come off! Someone used high quality, broad invisible tale to secure the flaps of the dust jacket to the cover of the book. Something Pynchon would do. I reduced the price by 30%, accordingly, and reduced the rating of both the book and dust jacket from fine to near-fine. The previous owner also printed off a listing of characters and laid it in the back of the book. N° de réf. du vendeur 2641e

Synopsis :

Spanning the period between the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and the years just after World War I, this novel moves from the labor troubles in Colorado to turn-of-the-century New York, to London and Gottingen, Venice and Vienna, the Balkans, Central Asia, Siberia at the time of the mysterious Tunguska Event, Mexico during the Revolution, postwar Paris, silent-era Hollywood, and one or two places not strictly speaking on the map at all.

With a worldwide disaster looming just a few years ahead, it is a time of unrestrained corporate greed, false religiosity, moronic fecklessness, and evil intent in high places. No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred.

The sizable cast of characters includes anarchists, balloonists, gamblers, corporate tycoons, drug enthusiasts, innocents and decadents, mathematicians, mad scientists, shamans, psychics, and stage magicians, spies, detectives, adventuresses, and hired guns. There are cameo appearances by Nikola Tesla, Bela Lugosi, and Groucho Marx.

As an era of certainty comes crashing down around their ears and an unpredictable future commences, these folks are mostly just trying to pursue their lives. Sometimes they manage to catch up; sometimes it's their lives that pursue them. Meanwhile, the author is up to his usual business. Characters stop what they're doing to sing what are for the most part stupid songs. Strange sexual practices take place. Obscure languages are spoken, not always idiomatically. Contrary-to-the-fact occurrences occur. If it is not the world, it is what the world might be with a minor adjustment or two. According to some, this is one of the main purposes of fiction.

Let the reader decide, let the reader beware. Good luck.

-Thomas Pynchon

À propos de l'auteur:

Thomas Pynchon is the author of V., The Crying of Lot 49, Gravity's Rainbow, Slow Learner, a collection of short stories, Vineland , Mason and Dixon and, most recently, Against the Day. He received the National Book Award for Gravity's Rainbow in 1974.

Détails bibliographiques

Titre : Against the Day
Éditeur : The Penguin Press, New York
Date d'édition : 2006
Reliure : Couverture rigide
Etat : Bon
Etat de la jaquette : Bon
Edition : Edition originale