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Against the Day

 Against the Day
type
 TVTItem
 Against the Day
label
 Against the Day
 Against the Day
page
 AgainstTheDay
 Against the Day
comment
 Against the Day is a postmodern historical fiction novel written by Thomas Pynchon, published in 2006. Pynchon’s another take on magnum-opus (and fattest) novel followed by Mason & Dixon and Gravity's Rainbow. Set between the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 and the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, charting the rise of corporate capitalism, the short life of the US anarchist movement and the construction of the modern military-industrial state – but doing so against a background of cowboy pastiche, dime-novel take-offs (long, long stretches take place aboard an airship crewed by the Chums of Chance, a gang of horny teenage aeronauts who talk like something out of Biggles) and dense Edwardian-era maths and science.The novel zips about from Mexico to the North Pole, from Colorado to London, from beneath the arid desert sands to the ageless land of Shambhala above the clouds. Characters are often in more than one place at once, since the form of the book is as anarchist as its content. Against the Day is without doubt, the most intensely confusing of Pynchon’s mega-novels, in ways that were as long-winded as they were usually dogmatic.Massive Kudzu Plot and Mind Screw ensues, of course.
 Against the Day
fetched
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 Against the Day
parsed
 2023-11-09T03:19:55Z
 Against the Day
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 Dropped link to DoorStopper: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Against the Day
processingComment
 Dropped link to GravitysRainbow: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Against the Day
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 DBTropes
 Against the Day / int_2c1f1138
type
 He Who Fights Monsters
 Against the Day / int_2c1f1138
comment
 He Who Fights Monsters: Critic Louis Menand argues that this is one of the central themes of the novel:
 Against the Day / int_2c1f1138
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 1.0
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 Against the Day
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 Against the Day / int_2c1f1138
 Against the Day / int_40cc0c7e
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 Bittersweet Ending
 Against the Day / int_40cc0c7e
comment
 Bittersweet Ending: The novel ends with the outbreak of WorldWarI.
 Against the Day / int_40cc0c7e
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 1.0
 Against the Day / int_40cc0c7e
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 Against the Day
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 Against the Day / int_40cc0c7e
 Against the Day / int_4b1ca7d2
type
 Genre Roulette
 Against the Day / int_4b1ca7d2
comment
 Genre Roulette: The book follows several separate casts of characters, and each of them is written in a discrete genre with a unique authorial voice.
 Against the Day / int_4b1ca7d2
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 1.0
 Against the Day / int_4b1ca7d2
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 Against the Day
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 Against the Day / int_4b1ca7d2
 Against the Day / int_6bda9a30
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 Meaningful Name
 Against the Day / int_6bda9a30
comment
 Meaningful Name: As is typical for Pynchon, there is much debate over the meanings of the names of his characters, and indeed whether they have any intended meanings at all. What else can one expect with character names like (to pick a few names almost at random) Luca Zombini, Stilton Gaspereaux, Webb Traverse, and Scarsdale Vibe?
 Against the Day / int_6bda9a30
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 1.0
 Against the Day / int_6bda9a30
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 1.0
 Against the Day
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 Against the Day / int_6bda9a30
 Against the Day / int_8b5e8731
type
 Kudzu Plot
 Against the Day / int_8b5e8731
comment
 Kudzu Plot: Because it's a Pynchon novel, there are numerous, chaotic plots that never fully wrap up.
 Against the Day / int_8b5e8731
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 1.0
 Against the Day / int_8b5e8731
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 Against the Day
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 Against the Day / int_8b5e8731
 Against the Day / int_a270b9e5
type
 Anarchy Is Chaos
 Against the Day / int_a270b9e5
comment
 Anarchy Is Chaos: Averted or even inverted; the anarchists, while not perfect, are some of the most sympathetic characters. Webb Traverse is accused of destroying property but there is no indication that he ever attempts to harm people.
 Against the Day / int_a270b9e5
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 Against the Day
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 Against the Day / int_a270b9e5
 Against the Day / int_b3d5d61
type
 Real-Person Cameo
 Against the Day / int_b3d5d61
comment
 Real-Person Cameo: Nikola Tesla, Bela Lugosi, and Groucho Marx.
 Against the Day / int_b3d5d61
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 1.0
 Against the Day / int_b3d5d61
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 Against the Day
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 Against the Day / int_b3d5d61
 Against the Day / int_bef696dd
type
 Mind Screw
 Against the Day / int_bef696dd
comment
 Mind Screw: Anyone familiar with Pynchon surely knows to expect this by now.
 Against the Day / int_bef696dd
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 1.0
 Against the Day / int_bef696dd
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 Against the Day
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 Against the Day / int_bef696dd
 Against the Day / int_cfdb9e17
type
 Cerebus Syndrome
 Against the Day / int_cfdb9e17
comment
 Cerebus Syndrome: The novel began to take a serious and dark turn especially the entire second halves. Knowing that Gravity's Rainbow take place primarily in post-WWII, it is dark especially.
 Against the Day / int_cfdb9e17
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 1.0
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 Against the Day
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 Against the Day / int_cfdb9e17
 Against the Day / int_name
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 ItemName
 Against the Day / int_name
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 Against the Day / int_name
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 Against the Day / int_name
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 1.0
 Against the Day
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 Against the Day / int_name
 Against the Day / int_name
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 Against the Day

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Against the Day
hasFeature
 American Literature (# to D) / int_1362919f
 Against the Day
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 Four Lines, All Waiting / int_1362919f
 Against the Day
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 Hollow World / int_1362919f