17: In which we tour Mr. Pynchon’s Mysterious Society for Peculiarly Gifted Bureaucrats (Gravity’s Rainbow Episodes 1.17-1.21)

Do we dare go beyond “Beyond the Zero”? Well, first we’ve got to meet a bunch of characters who will surely—surely—be important later. Then, this book heard you liked the occult, so it put a séance in its séance so you can speak to the dead while you speak to the dead. Finally, Roger and Jessica just keep breaking our hearts. Next time, Gravity’s Rainbow Episodes 2.1 and 2.2, or pp. 181-208 in the U.S. Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition. Support the show and get access to monthly bonus episodes at patreon.com/pynchonpals and follow us @pynchonpals.bsky.social. For the month of May’s bonus episode, we’ll be watching Hitler's Secret Weapon: The V-2 Rocket at Peenemunde (1977) (link via Archive.org), V2: Nazi Rocket a.k.a. Hitler's Space Rocket (2016) (there seems to be a couple cuts or versions of this one across streaming platforms and maybe international distributors—but here’s a link to one version on YouTube), and “V2 Assembling and Launching” (1947) (link via YouTube).Show Notes:“Hark the Sound,” by William Starr Myers, a.k.a. “Far Above Cayuga's Waters,” a.k.a. “Annie Lisle,” a.k.a. the Yoyodyne “Hymn” via the UNC Library Picasso’s “Las Meninas, or one of 58 anyways, via the Guggenheim Museum“Is Time Real? The Physics Behind the Illusion of Time” with Carlo Rovelli, via Quanta Magazine“Six Degrees of St. Elsewhere,” by Dwayne McDuffie, the origin of the Tommy Westphall Theory, via CBR Thomas Pynchon Name Generator (spoiler alert?)Gwenhidwy’s Drink, via Thomas Pynchon’s Liquor CabinetContent warnings: strong language, physical and sexual violence, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, genocide, albeism, antisemitism.---Featuring Patrick Fiorilli, Andrew Tillett, and Duri Long.Produced and edited by Patrick Fiorilli (www.patf.io and @patfio.bsky.social).Our theme music is “Horology,” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives license on the album Polygondwanaland.