Advertise on podcast: Slow Learners

We clear out the voicemail machine. Included: Proustian Failure, One Battle After Another, Bungled Anarchist Theory, Joyce Comparisons, Dante and His Divine Three-Volume Series, Japanese Cadences; Is Fiction Just, Like, Autobiography, Man?; Pynchonian Media, Montreal, AND AS USUAL LOTS MORE!!!!!!

We are back. Sorry for the delay--we were just uh...savoring the book's ending, and the richness of the text. John and Asher ride solo...together. Like DL and Takeshi! In our final Vineland read-through, we cover the book's last three chapters, learn more about Brock Vond's sexual proclivities, witness, the birth of Prairie, get the scoop on Zoyd's whole window-smashing-deal, return to Vineland itself for the Traverse-Becker family reunion, learn the fate of all our characters, and meet like 17 more. We also discuss myths of the afterlife, theories of hereditary madness (courtesy Italian phrenologists), giggling, acid versus coke rock, acid versus coke books, the ontology of the Pynchonverse, the (over)abundance agenda, if Sleep is the same band as Electric Wizard, Sylvia Plath, Proust (natch!), something-other-than-pessimism, the symbolism of blue jays, if hope is evil, and the impossibility of tilting the beam. Thanks for listening! We'll be back soon! And remember... SUNSHINE DAYDREAM SUNSHINE DAYDREAM SUNSHINE DAYDREAM SUNSHINE DAYDREAM SUNSHINE DAYDREAM SUNSHINE DAYDREAM SUNSHINE DAYDREAM SUNSHINE DAYDREAM Music In This Episode: Wendy Watson - "Degrassi Jr. High Theme" (excerpt) Sleep - "Dragonaut" (excerpt) Pop o' Pies - "Sugar Magnolia" (Demo Tape Version) (edited) Other Stuff: "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath "Proverbs for Paranoids" Gravity's Rainbow Guide

THIS WEEK: John and Asher reads through Chapters 10-12 of Vineland, which takes them back in their shared semester at the College of the Surf (John was Asher's RA). We also learn about the scintillating backstory of Frenesi Gates and her love affair with a COP (ew)--the betrayal of all her ostensible values. We also talk Marx, Freud, Lyotard, Thorazine as a bad-trip-killer, cinematic radicalism, the horny monster who lives inside of you and makes you do stuff you shouldn't want to (or even don't want to) do, May '68, the Emerald Triangle, and the Pynchonian figure of the evil dentist. THEN: Asher is joined by Dimitri and Khalid of the Subliminal Jihad podcast to talk about Pynchon's ties (literary and otherwise) to deep state conspiracism, occult machinations, and all things para-political (or as the boys would say it: political). The truth is out there? WRONG AGAIN. The truth is in...here. MUSIC: Kimi-Bogdan Raczynski

This week: John and Asher continue reading through and chatting about Vineland, a journey that takes us from California to Ohio to Japan and back again. We mull the novel's conspicuous "Eastern" influences, deep state machinations pitting the mob against the feds, and spend a lot of time with the curious--and amazing!--character Daryl Louise Chastain. Then: we're joined by writer Ana Gavrilovska to talk about D.L., One Battle After Another, Against the Day....and we finally and definitively answer the question: can Pynchon write women? Follow Ana on Twitter and read her Substack, why dontcha! Music in this Episode: Black Flag - "TV Party" Cold Foamers - "Always"

And we're back! With VINELAND, chapters 6-8. John and Asher discuss inter-generational negation, luddites, the computerized future, communitarian happenings, Esalen, transpersonal psychology, holotropic breathwork, and '70s solipsism. THEN: We speak with former member of the Students for Democratic Society and the Weatherman Eleanor Stein about '60s radicalism and their intersection with the hippier counterculture, left politics tactics, and the moral crises of then and now. MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE: "God's Children (End)" - The Kinks

We begin our read-through of Thomas Pynchon's Vineland in earnest, covering Chapters 1-5. John and Asher discuss the amateurishness of opening a novel with a character waking up, the perils of transfenestration, the ersatzness of Hawaiian holidays, and whether Billy Barf and the Vomitones are a heavy metal band or a hardcore band. Was there D-beat before the band Discharge? We'll never know... Also! We welcome author, broadcaster and podcaster Jesse Jarnow to talk about the legacy of the '60s hippie counterculture and help situate Pynchon's novel, culturally. Jesse is the author of arguably the chronicle of the hippie underground, Heads (among other wonderful volumes), host of The Frow Show on the mighty WFMU in Jersey, also the co-host of The Good Ol' Grateful Deadcast. Follow Jesse on Bluesky, why dontcha? Here's John's article (that Asher helped edit) in Rolling Stone, about the history of LSD manufacture, that comes up in this episode. Music in this Episode: The Last Poets - "When the Revolution Comes" (1970) The Watts Prophets - "Public Enemy Number One" (1996) Jane Birkin - "Ex-fan des sixties" (1978)

We missed "Pynchon Summer." But just barely! Cut us some slack, eh? In any event, we are back with our read-through of Thomas Pynchon's Vineland (1990). Is it a triumphant return following the interminable 17 interregnum since Gravity's Rainbow? Or a total piece of junk! As usual, the truth is...what we say it is. This intro episode sets up the book, its themes, and background. Then we chat with returning guest Noah Kulwin about the role of the snitch or government informant in American politics and culture. Make sure to check out Noah and Brendan James' essential pod-chronicle of American Empire, Blowback, which just launched its sixth season. OK we are glad to be back! New episodes every week or so! MUSIC in this Episode: The Exploited - "Police Informer" (1987) The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy - "California Über Alles" (1992)

We open the ol' mailbag, which is really more of google voicemail inbox, to answer some listener Q&As. At long last! We accidentally deleted one and apologize. So if you're the person who called in to ask about the "keying waves" sequence, where Slothrop is talking to his dad...well....we are truly sorry. It was a good question! Stay tuned. We are starting prep on our next season on Proust. We are currently arguing about whether to do just Swann's Way, or all of In Search Of Lost Time, which is like 9 billion words. Maybe we can do Swann's Way first, and then do other books? And then come back to Proust? If you have thoughts, we'd appreciate it, as we like to put our listeners first...after ourselves, and all our stupid, self-indulgent tendencies, and whims. It may be a few months off, in any event. If you're not doing so yet, follow us on Twitter, which will never be known as "X."

In this extra, bonus "appendix" episode, Asher lays out his theory of Gravity's Rainbow, as a coded biography of its author, Thomas Pynchon. Also: we're joined by author and researcher Albert Rolls to talk about his book, Thomas Pynchon: Demon in the Text, which is itself a not-quite-a-biography of Pynchon.

Covering Part 4: 12...The End. We take an elevator ride to the skies, reflect on "anarcho-sadism," catch up with some of our old pals in Der Platz, smoke out of a kazoo, and take a tour around the L.A. freeways with our man Richard Zhlubb. Oh also, we lean what the S-Gerät is, and figure out the final terminus of the 00000 (sort of). Additionally: we are joined by ⁠Dr. Gregory Marks⁠ to chat about the Marxist/historical materialist dimensions of Gravity's Rainbow. Is Tommy Boy a leftist? A crank reactionary? Can both positions potentially be resolved via some kind of...dialectical process? We have all these answers--and more! Other topics include: John Dillinger, folk heroism, dispersal, Hitler youth kids and their big fat asses, The Fool (the band), The Fool (the major arcana of the tarot), Poison Ruïn, the fourth wall, self-immolation, Adorno, Freud, reification, the sephirot, is prose writing?, illuminated manuscripts, Asher's inner detective, John not being able to read, and...is this even a good book??? Read ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Proverbs For Paranoids,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow. E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: [email protected]

This week: before we head into the final stretch of Gravity's Rainbow, we stop to talk tarot and esotericism with Answers In Tarot, also known as L.A. Lubuschagne. He offers us some insights into the cultural context for the Tarot's reemergence in the '60s/'70s counterculture, unpacks Slothrop's identification with "The Fool," and offers a thorough reading of Weissman's Tarot, as laid down in the book (pp. 747-749 in the Viking edition). What will the cards reveal? Listen to find out. We'll be back next week with our final read-through episode, when everything goes: KABLOOIE! Weissman's Tarot lay-out (via PynchonWiki) CONTACT ANSWERS IN TAROT: Email: [email protected] YouTube: @lalabuschagne Discord: la.labuschagne Reddit: u/LA_Labuschagne

Covering Part 4: Chapters 7-11. We follow the Counterforce to a surprise dinner, reflect on The World, learn of Weissman's new frontier, and finally reach the THRILLING climax between Tchitcherine and his Herero half-brother, Enzian. Also: we speak with Professor Jeffrey Severs, literary scholar and co-host of the podcast Don DeLillo Should Win The Nobel Prize, about the 1962 Seattle World's Fair (a.k.a. the Century 21 Exhibition) and its influence on Pynchon's vision of the future: the Raketen Stadt. Other topics include: Giving LSD to elephants, Bush (and Bush X), Louis Jolyon West, disgust and absurdism, colonialism (again), capitalism (again), Ren & Stimpy, the Military Industrial Complex, the Space Age and all its wonders, Calvino's Invisible Cities, and more. Read "A City of The Future": Gravity's Rainbow and the 1962 Seattle World's Fair by Jeffrey Severs (requires JSTOR access). Read ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Proverbs For Paranoids,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow. E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: [email protected]

Covering Part 4: Chapters 1-6. We enter the fourth--and final!--part of the novel. We discuss the formation of the "Counterforce," Slothrop's dispersal, and a fan-favorite episode about a sentient lightbulb that goes nuts. In this episode, we embrace the threat of sentient technology by speaking with an A.I. generated spectre of the late literary critic Harold Bloom. We chat with "Harold" about the novel, Byron the Bulb, gnosticism, and the prospects of us all being killed by computers. Other topics include: Keying waves, Mandrakes, some characteristics of Imipolex-G, dualistic ontologies, the CIA, gnosis (in a gnostic way), Robin Wood, psychosis, believing two (or 45) things at once, whips, chains, and leather, bundle of cognition. Read ⁠⁠⁠⁠Proverbs For Paranoids,⁠⁠⁠⁠ John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow. E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: [email protected]

Covering Part 3: Chapters 24-32. We exit THE ZONE. Many BIG THINGS are revealed about Slothrop's purpose, his family history, and just what the HELL this book is about. Also: there's some pinball. In this episode we chatted with Matt Christman (@cushbomb) from Chapo Trap House, Hell on Earth and his own Cushvlog about the Masons, the Rosy Cross, and how Protestantism gave rise to capitalism, in America and elsewhere. Other topics include: Alternative currencies, Pirate's Dream, history as geography, parapolitics and the New World Order, cities of the future, the prognostications of hardcore music, racist toys, the Mujahideen, "The Secret Integration," astral projecting while your wife putzes around the house, disenchantment, re-enchantment, Kurt Russell's son, Mumbo Jumbo. Read ⁠⁠⁠Proverbs For Paranoids,⁠⁠⁠ John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow. E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: [email protected]

Covering Part 3: Chapters 13-23. Slothrop goes on a boat, and maybe has sex with a child. Then he goes on another boat. And then back to the same boat. Gravity's Rainbow? They should call this book Boats! Also: Slothrop's beging "thinning out." What does that mean? Has Ozempic claimed Tyrone Slothrop?! This episode: we talk with with journalist and podcast Noah Kulwin (Blowback) about post-war geopolitics, banana republics, and how the multinational corporation came to supplant the nation-state as the fundamental unit through which power operates. Other topics include: Porky Pig tattoos, the art of Balthasar Klossowski de Rola aka Balthus, perversion, pedophilia, the fascist connection between youth and beauty, Allan Dulles, Vineland, Nazis as the "ur-evil," conspiratorial vs. skeptical thought, uncorrupted youth corrupted, Tom Pynchon's Ghost, Hannibal Lecter. Read ⁠⁠Proverbs For Paranoids,⁠⁠ John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow. Follow "Tom Pynchon's Ghost" on Twitter. E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: [email protected]