ABREACTION OF THE LORD OF THE NIGHT

First guy:       "Your problem is, you're paranoid"

Second guy:  "Well, that may be - but it still doesn't stop people from plotting against me behind my back."





I'm re-reading my favourite novel of all time at present.

When I say 'at present' it will really mean for the rest of March as this book is very complex with hundreds of characters. Kind of like Richard (of RBB)'s blogs with his multi-personalities:

And, about as crazy and complicated.


What I like about it is the seamless interweaving of art, music, science and literary allusions into the text and story-line kind of like reading  T.S. Eliot poetry.

Gravity's Rainbow is a very long book. It's set out in four parts generally over the period from November 1944 to September 1945 - the last days of the second world war from the launch of Germany's V2 rockets through to the days after USA's atomic bomb attacks on Japan.

Part One Beyond the Zero has the epigraph of a quotation written by Wernher von Braun:

"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"

This from the leader of Germany's V2 project which launched 3,000 rockets and directly killed more than 9,000 people.

Part Two Un Perm' au Casino Herman Goering has an epigraph of Merian C. Cooper speaking to Fay Wray (King Kong movie) saying:

 "You will have the tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood"

Part Three In the Zone has the epigraph taken from The wizard of Oz where Dorothy says:

 "Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore"


Part Four The Counterforce has the epigraph attributed to Richard Nixon over his involvement in the watergate scandal of:

 "What?"

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I was going to do a summary of the novel from my reading so far and from my memory of it from earlier reading but I won't be able to do justice to it.

I suggest that you read it and, if you ignore my recommendation take note that it is recognised as the greatest American novel published after the Second World war and Time magazine rated it in the Top 100 all-time greatest novels. Praise indeed but it's is well worth persevering with.

Note: an appreciation of T.S. Eliot rather than S.T. Coleridge poetry may be a prerequisite.