Category: Errant Reader

V. Chapter One – In which Benny Profane, a schlemihl and human yo-yo, gets to an apochair

Blog V title pic

I want to admit something at the very start: getting back into this series is going to be a little rough. I read the first two chapters of V. about three months ago. As my long absence from the site may suggest, life got in the way of blogging. Suffice to say, work was a little overwhelming. There’s an odd symbolism to the timing of my return to writing longer pieces for the blog though. I’m actually sitting in the exact same spot at my parent’s house where I did the last bit of serious writing. That was back in December and I was writing a eulogy for my Grandpa. I’ve been slowly building up steam to return to Pynchon over the last few weeks, but it’s fitting that I’m hitting the reset button now.  Continue reading “V. Chapter One – In which Benny Profane, a schlemihl and human yo-yo, gets to an apochair” →

Something New at 250

250blogpostimg

Welcome to Errant Reader!

Admittedly, it’s not new at all. A little while ago I realized that I had passed my 5-year anniversary with this blog and that I was almost to my 250th post. Despite my irregular update schedule, I decided that maybe I was actually going to stick with this blog and maybe it was time to register the blog’s domain name so that it was really mine. One problem: it turns out Errant Ventures is taken up by a property management company somewhere in Kansas or Kansas City or Arkansas or something with “sas” at the end. After spending far too much time contemplating the name change, I just settled on the title I was using for most of my long posts. It’s a fitting title since I tend to be eclectic in my reading choices and the blog tends to provide an eclectic set of  topics for you (dear reader) to peruse. I’ve also set up another twitter account for the blog, @errantreader, for just blog related issues. Please follow me! (Note: I’m keeping my other twitter account as well. It’s just going to remain private.)

Anyway, here’s a picture of my dog looking cute in celebration of the big move. More posts on the way. As always, thanks for reading!

Errant Reader: “Under the Rose” – Thomas Pynchon (1961)

Image

I’m breaking my usual work pattern for “Under the Rose.” First, I’m not bothering to read it through multiple times – something I’ve done for each of the stories up to this point. Frankly, “Under the Rose” is so mixed up with a chapter of V. in my memory that I probably should go through it again. I’m opting for a bit more haste this time. I’m eager to move on to the novels. Second, and perhaps more importantly, I’m not going to have the luxury to reread each novel in its entirety before I write a post. I need to get used to tackling these posts with a bit more flexibility. All of this is a preamble to a major caveat: I’m not sure I “get” “Under the Rose.” I lost the narrative a bit at the end. While I went back through the last few pages as I was reading, I’m still struggling with the story’s final scenes. Continue reading “Errant Reader: “Under the Rose” – Thomas Pynchon (1961)” →