Great cover, non? These stories, originally published in periodicals between 1959 and 1961, were not collected until the middle 1980s, and upon reading them, I can say that with good reason. With two exceptions (“Entropy” and “The Secret Integration”), they just aren’t very good. Pynchon starts the collection with a twenty-five page essay examining the flaws and foibles of these pieces, even going so far as to offer bits and bobs of his autobiography to explain why X was X rather than Y. The uncritical reader will move from the introduction to the story, and because of Pynchon’s rather hefty reputation, will see all the promise and genius blurbed about on the back cover (The New York Times, New Republic, and The New York Times Book Review all seemed to have hired non-critical readers to review this book, as they are the sources of the blurbs in question, and wow, how incredibly wrong they are). An easily influenced reader, and I admit to falling into this category at times, will read the introduction and then pick out all the flaws mentioned by Pynchon, and probably come to the same conclusion he did, that these stories are apprentice work at best. The critical reader, however, will see all of the flaws Pynchon outlined—and a few more, actually—but will also see, if not a remarkable talent, then at least the potential for a remarkable talent. If Pynchon were trying to establish a career for himself today, these stories would be best left off his CV, but their time has passed, Pynchon is Pynchon, and here we are.
The biggest issue with most of these stories is that that young apprentice Pynchon had absolutely no ear for prose. Their style is clumsy, jumping between baroque infodump and stark minimalism to no apparent purpose. Important details are often vague (and the prose during the only treatment of sex in these stories isn’t just purple, it’s Imperial Purple, and Pynchon is justifiably embarrassed by it). Narratives often stall or fall apart or simply end before they have made any kind of point. “Entropy” shows stylistic and thematic potential; the prose isn’t exactly clear, and is from time to time surrealist, but the characters are interesting and though, just as the introduction said, the story doesn’t need the entropic imagery running under everything, it’s still good, functional, well-made imagery. “The Secret Integration” is a bit clumsy at the end and perhaps feels a bit like a morality play, but by this time there’s no question at all that Pynchon is well on his way to becoming not only a compelling stylist, but a master craftsman. The story is rich and convincing, the characters real in a way they weren’t in the other stories, and the various themes and plot elements were all given exactly the weight they deserved. Pynchon himself called it a journeyman story, since V. was already out earlier that year, and he was on his way. Journeyman story it is.
Watch out for more Pynchon in the future, but now it’s time for King Rat, by China Miéville.
