Product Description

"Slow Learner" is a compilation of early stories written between 1959 and 1964, before Pynchon achieved recognition as a prominent writer for his 1963 novel, "V" and containing a revelatory essay on his early influences and writing. The collection consists of five short stories: "The Small Rain", "Lowlands", "Entropy", "Under the Rose", and "The Secret Integration", as well as an introduction written by Pynchon himself for the 1984 publication. The five stories were originally published individually in various literary magazines but in 1984, after Pynchon had achieved greater recognition, "Slow Learner" was published to collect and copyright the stories into one volume. The introduction also offers a rare insight into Pynchon's own views on his work and influences.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #305884 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

About the Author
Thomas Pynchon was born in 1937 on Long Island and educated at Cornell.

Customer Reviews

The Seeds of Genius
The most striking thing about this collection of stories is the almost palpable presence of the author. Starting with the foreword (the only time mister Pynchon ever spoke to his readers directly!), and the all to meaningfull title, as if to excuse himself for the humbleness of these stories compaired with the later work. True as this may be, most of these stories are of an almost Salingerian freshness, simple in their construction, but multilayered in dimension... Very readable, but as dense as most of his work. In short: if you haven't read these, you won't appreciate the rest of the work of Thomas Pynchon.

Pynchon revealed
I've had "Gravity's Rainbow" sitting dauntingly on my shelf for too long to mention, so when I saw the attractively slim `Slow Learner' on the cheap I picked it up as a quicker route into the world of Pynchon. All I really knew about him was his secrecy, his refusal to be photographed, and his apparently precocious genius.
"Slow Learner" is a collection of his early work, and by his own recognition in the introduction (which offers a fascinating insight into the development of the author, how he not only developed as a writer but how he develops his work, even today - Pynchon puts a big emphasis on character, seeing it as the root from which fiction MUST grow) is far from his greatest work. Having not read any of his other books, I obviously was unable to see how the early Pynchon finally came through in the later Pynchon, but it was still offered a brilliant view into the mind of a young writer, most notably the almost ventriloquial adoption of different voices and styles.
"Under the Rose", the fourth story in the collection and the one which Pynchon says he likes the most today, I found unpalatable in its inferior imitation of Graham Greene (again, Pynchon acknowledges this in his introduction), although perhaps this was highlighted by my having only read Greene's "The Quiet American" a few days before. Otherwise, there is a large reliance on the beat generation (Kerouac's "On The Road" is one of Pynchon's favourite books), notably in "Entropy".
I didn't find it a bad collection, but at the same time it didn't particularly grab me, although it's not there as a showpiece book. I think once I've got through "Gravity's Rainbow" and another couple of Pynchon's tomes, a return to this slim volume might be much more interesting and rewarding.

Pynchon the early years
I am a big Pynchon fan and if you ever want to read his work, but were put off by the novels being over 600 pages long this is the book for you. All five of these short stories seem to encapsulate bits of the later work. That said probably the most interesting part of the book is Pynchon’s introduction, where he slates the stories for a number of reasons, giving a sort of master class for idiots like me who have pretentious to become writers.