Reading Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow 4219-SC149
This is an intensive course of just one week's duration. It is entirely devoted to an outstanding American novel of the twentieth century: Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow (1973) has been hailed as a literary masterpiece and has provoked virtually countless interpretations and a plethora of critical comments. The course is taught by a leading expert on Pynchon. Luc Herman has published extensively on Pynchon's work, and his book on Gravity's Rainbow is forthcoming in 2011. The course thus represents a unique opportunity for those interested in learning more about the novel, the historical novel, and postmodernist fiction. In order to participate in this seminar it is neccesary to have read the novel in the original English in its entirety beforehand, since the week-long format will not allow sufficient time to read between classes (the novel is more than 700 pages). Fluency in both spoken and written English is another prerequisite.
Type of course
Prerequisites (description)
Learning outcomes
Students should be acquainted with the most recent interpretative perspectives on Gravity’s Rainbow and should be able to apply the new approaches to other texts of American postmodernism. They should be able to apply their knowledge in the research paper
Assessment criteria
20% attendance
30% participation
50% research paper (to be emailed after the course)
Bibliography
Primary material :
Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)
Secondary material:
Elias, Amy. Sublime Desire: History and Post-1960s Fiction (2001)
Herman, Luc (ed.). Approach and Avoid: Essays on Gravity’s Rainbow (= Pynchon Notes 42-43 (1998))
Hite, Molly. Ideas of Order in the Novels of Thomas Pynchon (1983)
Hutcheon, Linda. A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction (1988)
Moore, Thomas. The Style of Connectedness: Gravity’s Rainbow and Thomas Pynchon (1987)
Weisenburger, Steven. A Gravity’s Rainbow Companion: Sources and Contexts for Pynchon’s Novel (University of Georgia Press, second edition 2006)
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: