rocketpig said:
Have you ever read Gravity's Rainbow? I haven't read The Sound and the Fury (yet) but I have a hard time believing any book is more mind-rattling than Gravity's Rainbow. Pynchon is fucking insane. |
The first chapter (of four) in The Sound and the Fury is narrated by a literal retard. He is so mentally handicapped he's incapable of speech. Along with this comes syntax and diction that is incredibly hard to understand. He also has no concept of time, so he'll switch between past and present without warning. To make this even more difficult, there are 20 different times he goes between throughout the chapter. They aren't in chronological order, and he'll stop mid memory, go onto another, and come back to that memory 20 pages later. To make this even MORE difficult, there about 15 or so characters, two of which have the same name. None of these people or their relationships with the others are explained.
Length: ~50 pages
Time Spent Reading: ~4 hours
Here's the intro pargraph (I'll spare you a time shift):
Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting. They were coming toward where the flag was and I went along the fence. Luster was hunting in the grass by the flower tree. They took the flag out, and they were hitting. Then they put the flag back and they went to the table, and he hit and the other hit. Then they went on, and I went along the fence. Luster came away from the flower tree and we went along the fence and they stopped and we stopped and I looked through the fence while Luster was hunting in the grass.
The second chapter is narrated by his incredibly intelligent brother. This wouldn't be so bad, but he's having a mental breakdown as the chapter progresses. It's even more difficult to understand.
Length: ~50 pages
Time Spent Reading: ~7 hours
Here's the first 2 paragraphs (and two of the easiest):
When the shadow of the sash appeared on the curtains it was between seven and eight oclock and then I was in time again, hearing the watch. It was Grandfather's and when Father gave it to me he said I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire; it's rather excruciating-ly apt that you will use it to gain the reducto absurdum of all human experience which can fit your individual needs no better than it fitted his or his father's. I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all your breath trying to conquer it. Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools.
It was propped against the collar box and I lay listening to it. Hearing it, that is. I dont suppose anybody ever deliberately listens to a watch or a clock. You dont have to. You can be oblivious to the sound for a long while, then in a second of ticking it can create in the mind unbroken the long diminishing parade of time you didn't hear. Like Father said down the long and lonely light-rays you might see Jesus walking, like. And the good Saint Francis that said Little Sister Death, that never had a sister.
I have not read Gravity's Rainbow, though, so I can't comment on it.
