Pynchon Wiki: Inherent Vice

Revision as of 05:39, 10 August 2009 by Pschmid1 (Talk | contribs) (Pynchon Narrates Promo Video)

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Order Inherent Vice (Amazon)

Listen to Pynchon narrate a 2.5 minute video about Inherent Vice!

GalleyCat's Jason Boog stitched together vintage footage of 1970s California, private detectives, old-time computers, and some choice passages from Inherent Vice

This is the newly created Wiki for Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice. Besides using the Alphabetical Index and the page-by-page annotation, you can also take a look at Inherent Vice covers, read the reviews, or entertain some theories on the source of the title.

Pynchon Narrates Promo Video

Comments and Questions on this Video

So are these scenes from Manhattan Beach, Pynchon's "Gordita Beach"? Any clues from the publisher re how this video got made and uploaded? Could Pynchon have shot and edited this?

And this is Pynchon's voice "doing" Doc, yes? (Sure sounds different than the high-pitched voice on the Simpsons episode, though.)

Any clues about the music? Something Neil Young did, on request from TP? (Just a wild guess.)

The images sure emphasize how much "Gordita" has changed for the worse. Just about every space is partitioned, privatized, blocked, barricaded. And check out the black cat just when Doc starts meditating about bad karma. The fog remains the same.

How many other books have been promoted by an "author" video playing with the p o v of one of the characters? Or is Pynchon the first, or one of the first, to catch this new wave? He's a goofyfoot rider, fer sure.

The whole thing's brilliant and funny and sad, right up to the kicker at the end. A "music video" for a novel! But far more than just a simple "promo." Notice how "Doc" is inside and outside of the book's time zone--he both talks about the story as if it's just beginning and he's living it AND as if he's outside of time, looking back, and a little lost, with his completed story residing in this book that some guy named Pynchon has published.

Let's put some reactions to the video here. We can do better than the (mostly) mindless posts re the video on YouTube. --Pschmid1 05:39, 10 August 2009 (PDT)

How to Use this Wiki

There are two major ways to use this wiki. The first is the Inherent Vice Alphabetical Index, used to keep track of the myriad characters, real and imagined, as well as events, arcana, and lots of other stuff. The second is the Spoiler-Free Annotations by Page, which allows the reader to look up and contribute allusions and references while reading the book, in a convenient and spoiler-free manner.

Apart from those, it's up to you.

Alphabetical Index

Information on the characters, events, and everything else in Inherent Vice, organized alphabetically:
Inherent Vice Alpha Guide
A·B·C·D·E·F·G·H·I·J·K·L·M·N·O·P·Q·R·S·T·U·V·W·XYZ TOP↑


Page by Page Annotations

Chapter 1
pp. 1-18
Chapter 2
pp. 19-45
Chapter 3
pp. 46-49
Chapter 4
pp. 50-54
Chapter 5
pp. 55-67
Chapter 6
pp. 68-88
Chapter 7
pp. 89-110
Chapter 8
pp. 111-123
Chapter 9
pp. 124-153
Chapter 10
pp. 154-162
Chapter 11
pp. 163-185
Chapter 12
pp. 186-206
Chapter 13
pp. 207-234
Chapter 14
pp. 235-255
Chapter 15
pp. 256-274
Chapter 16
pp. 275-295
Chapter 17
pp. 296-314
Chapter 18
pp. 315-342
Chapter 19
pp. 343-350
Chapter 20
pp. 351-363
Chapter 21
pp. 364-369

Pynchon Wiki Help and Contributor Guidelines

Click here for help with editing and creating pages.

We have a few conventions we ask that you follow:

  • When creating a new page, if its information pertains to one (and only one) specific Pynchon novel, please categorize it with the appropriate identifier. For example, a page pertaining to Inherent Vice, should use the syntax [[Category:IV]].
  • To open a discussion on an individual listing of the Alpha Index, create one using the entry on Peter Tait as an example. Basically, give it a name that identifies the alpha listing (eg [[Name Discussion|DISCUSSION]]) and notice that the visible name will be "DISCUSSION" in full caps, so it stands out a bit.

External Links

The Modern Word: Inherent Vice
The Fictional Woods - a Pynchon forum

Featured Articles

The Inherent Vice Soundtrack

Songs mentioned in Inherent Vice

Unreleased Backgrounds

Pynchon's California Trilogy and the CIA

Gallery

Below are some of the images you will find on Pynchon Wiki.


Thanks, and enjoy...

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