Slow learner : early stories

"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.

Thomas Pynchon's literary career was launched not with the release of his widely acclaimed first novel, V., but with the publication in literary magazines of the five stories collected here. In his introduction to Slow Learner the author reviews his early work with disarming candor and recalls the American cultural landscape of the early post-Beat era in which the stories were written. Time magazine described this introductory essay as "Pynchon's first public gesture toward autobiography."

Library Journal

Published in 1984, this contains five of the author's early storieswritten between 1958 and 1964along with an introduction.

This volume brings together five of Pynchon's early short stories, four of them written while he was a student at Cornell and the fifth in 1964. In the introduction, he describes the genesis of the stories, evokes the cultural idiosyncrasies that attend them, and analyzes each one's strengths and frailities. The five stories are "The Small Rain," "Entropy," "Low-Lands," "The Secret Integration," and "Under the Rose." They reveal Pynchon's earlier grappling with themes which he elaborate in his later works. ISBN 0-316-72442-4 : $14.95 A collection of five stories written by the author between 1958 and 1964, four during the author's time in college, providing a glimpse into American life during the late fifties and early sixties INTRODUCTION......Page 5 THE SMALL RAIN......Page 18 LOW-LANDS......Page 35 ENTROPY......Page 50 UNDER THE ROSE......Page 62 THE SECRET INTEGRATION......Page 88 OUTSIDE, the company area broiled slowly under the sun.