Book Review: Slow Learner is a necessary book for anyone who wants to know Thomas Pynchon. If you've read at least two of his novels and have any extant interest, you should read this as well. For die-hard fans the fun will be in searching out characters, events, scenes, and themes that reappeared in later works. For casual Pynchon readers seeing the author's maturation as a writer will be food for thought. My suggestion is to read the Introduction to Slow Learner after reading the stories. It will make ever so much more sense and will save re-reading. This will be difficult for acolytes who tend to salivate after any scrap of information they can obtain about the maestro. In the Introduction, Pynchon not only enthusiastically deprecates his early works, but also provides useful advice for beginning writers. Through his humility, Pynchon is trying to lower expectations, to discourage reading too much into work from his 20's when he was experimenting with and exploring his craft, and perhaps to assuage his own wincing and cringing when looking back. Else why release them at all? For another bit of insight into his world fans should seek out Pynchon's Introduction to the Penguin edition of his friend Richard Fariña's only novel, Been Down So Long it Looks Like Up to Me (1966). Since there are only five stories here and this is one of the notable writers of our time, each deserves its own bit, along with year of publication.
"The Small Rain" (1959) - The simplest story here (published when Pynchon was 22), but still touching and effective. Here Pynchon aims at a big statement, but subtly and in an offhand manner befitting an enlisted man. A soldier story in the vein of Norman Mailer (The Naked and the Dead (1948)), or more distantly Ernest Hemingway (who comes in for a mention). His first published story and the most conventional. [3★]
"Low-lands" (1960) - Pynchon writing an allegory, a fairy tale for a modern and cynical age. Written well before the similarly titled but unrelated song by Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan (and friend of Richard Fariña), "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" (1966). [3★]
"Entropy" (1960) - The convoluted plot of the story encapsulates the concept of the title, down to the stilling of a heartbeat. Very Pynchonesque, and reminiscent (especially the dialog) of the aforementioned Richard Fariña novel. [4★]
"Under the Rose" (1961) - Reads like an outtake of V. (which it is, apparently -- see Chapter Three of that work), and includes characters from that novel. Rich, Baroque, complex, historical. I can't say that reading this story will provide the key to understanding any facet of that book. It actually doesn't seem like a short story at all. [3★]
"The Secret Integration" (1964) - Published a year after V. and two years before The Crying of Lot 49. Pynchon had decided that he knew how to write a short story. Along with "The Small Rain," the least Pynchon-like story in the bunch (though he can't help but flash moments of his shtick), and the most conventional (was published in The Saturday Evening Post, after all). This is Pynchon making social commentary and exploring the idea that children may be wiser than adults. [4★]
Slow Learner is an excellent place to begin reading Pynchon, following along in fits and starts as he finds his way. Also recommended are the more often suggested The Crying of Lot 49 and his first novel V., for those chronologically inclined. In these early stories we discover that Pynchon had already digested several encyclopedias, lived several lifetimes, and had mastered the art of looking at everything the way no one else does. Given his cybernetic store of knowledge, he makes disturbing and surprising connections. His writing is bizarre, but beautiful. [3★]
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