Slow Learners

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Latest Episodes:

Mailbag Time (Listener Qs, A'd) Mar 11, 2024

We open the ol' mailbag, which is really more of google voicemail inbox, to answer some listener Q&As. At long last!

We accidentally deleted one and apologize. So if you're the person who called in to ask about the "keying waves" sequence, where Slothrop is talking to his dad...well....we are truly sorry. It was a good question!

Stay tuned. We are starting prep on our next season on Proust. We are currently arguing about whether to do just Swann's Way, or all of In Search Of Lost Time, which is like 9 billion words. Maybe we can do Swann's Way first, and then do other books? And then come back to Proust? If you have thoughts, we'd appreciate it, as we like to put our listeners first...after ourselves, and all our stupid, self-indulgent tendencies, and whims. It may be a few months off, in any event.

If you're not doing so yet, follow us on Twitter, which will never be known as "X."

APPENDIX - Is GRAVITY'S RAINBOW an autobiography? (W/ Albert Rolls) Feb 20, 2024

In this extra, bonus "appendix" episode, Asher lays out his theory of Gravity's Rainbow, as a coded biography of its author, Thomas Pynchon.

Also: we're joined by author and researcher Albert Rolls to talk about his book, Thomas Pynchon: Demon in the Text, which is itself a not-quite-a-biography of Pynchon.

EP 13 - The Final Delta T (W/Gregory Marks) Jan 30, 2024

Covering Part 4: 12...The End. We take an elevator ride to the skies, reflect on "anarcho-sadism," catch up with some of our old pals in Der Platz, smoke out of a kazoo, and take a tour around the L.A. freeways with our man Richard Zhlubb. Oh also, we lean what the S-Gerät is, and figure out the final terminus of the 00000 (sort of).

Additionally: we are joined by ⁠Dr. Gregory Marks⁠ to chat about the Marxist/historical materialist dimensions of Gravity's Rainbow. Is Tommy Boy a leftist? A crank reactionary? Can both positions potentially be resolved via some kind of...dialectical process? We have all these answers--and more!

Other topics include: John Dillinger, folk heroism, dispersal, Hitler youth kids and their big fat asses, The Fool (the band), The Fool (the major arcana of the tarot), Poison Ruïn, the fourth wall, self-immolation, Adorno, Freud, reification, the sephirot, is prose writing?, illuminated manuscripts, Asher's inner detective, John not being able to read, and...is this even a good book???

Read ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Proverbs For Paranoids,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow.

E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com

BONUS - Weissman's Tarot (W/ Answers In Tarot) Jan 23, 2024

This week: before we head into the final stretch of Gravity's Rainbow, we stop to talk tarot and esotericism with Answers In Tarot, also known as L.A. Lubuschagne. He offers us some insights into the cultural context for the Tarot's reemergence in the '60s/'70s counterculture, unpacks Slothrop's identification with "The Fool," and offers a thorough reading of Weissman's Tarot, as laid down in the book (pp. 747-749 in the Viking edition). What will the cards reveal? Listen to find out.

We'll be back next week with our final read-through episode, when everything goes: KABLOOIE!

Weissman's Tarot lay-out (via PynchonWiki)

CONTACT ANSWERS IN TAROT:

Email: La.Labuschagne.Creative@gmail.com

YouTube: @lalabuschagne

Discord: la.labuschagne

Reddit: u/LA_Labuschagne

EP 12 - Raketen Stadt Of Mind (W/ Jeffrey Severs) Jan 16, 2024

Covering Part 4: Chapters 7-11. We follow the Counterforce to a surprise dinner, reflect on The World, learn of Weissman's new frontier, and finally reach the THRILLING climax between Tchitcherine and his Herero half-brother, Enzian.

Also: we speak with Professor Jeffrey Severs, literary scholar and co-host of the podcast Don DeLillo Should Win The Nobel Prize, about the 1962 Seattle World's Fair (a.k.a. the Century 21 Exhibition) and its influence on Pynchon's vision of the future: the Raketen Stadt.

Other topics include: Giving LSD to elephants, Bush (and Bush X), Louis Jolyon West, disgust and absurdism, colonialism (again), capitalism (again), Ren & Stimpy, the Military Industrial Complex, the Space Age and all its wonders, Calvino's Invisible Cities, and more.

Read "A City of The Future": Gravity's Rainbow and the 1962 Seattle World's Fair by Jeffrey Severs (requires JSTOR access).

Read ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Proverbs For Paranoids,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow.

E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com

EP 11 - Shine On, You Crazy Sentient Lightbulb (W/ The Computerized Ghost of Harold Bloom) Jan 09, 2024

Covering Part 4: Chapters 1-6. We enter the fourth--and final!--part of the novel. We discuss the formation of the "Counterforce," Slothrop's dispersal, and a fan-favorite episode about a sentient lightbulb that goes nuts.

In this episode, we embrace the threat of sentient technology by speaking with an A.I. generated spectre of the late literary critic Harold Bloom. We chat with "Harold" about the novel, Byron the Bulb, gnosticism, and the prospects of us all being killed by computers.

Other topics include: Keying waves, Mandrakes, some characteristics of Imipolex-G, dualistic ontologies, the CIA, gnosis (in a gnostic way), Robin Wood, psychosis, believing two (or 45) things at once, whips, chains, and leather, bundle of cognition.

Read ⁠⁠⁠⁠Proverbs For Paranoids,⁠⁠⁠⁠ John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow.

E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com

EP 10 - Do You Believe In Magic? (W/ Matt Christman) Jan 02, 2024

Covering Part 3: Chapters 24-32. We exit THE ZONE. Many BIG THINGS are revealed about Slothrop's purpose, his family history, and just what the HELL this book is about. Also: there's some pinball.

In this episode we chatted with Matt Christman (@cushbomb) from Chapo Trap House, Hell on Earth and his own Cushvlog about the Masons, the Rosy Cross, and how Protestantism gave rise to capitalism, in America and elsewhere.

Other topics include: Alternative currencies, Pirate's Dream, history as geography, parapolitics and the New World Order, cities of the future, the prognostications of hardcore music, racist toys, the Mujahideen, "The Secret Integration," astral projecting while your wife putzes around the house, disenchantment, re-enchantment, Kurt Russell's son, Mumbo Jumbo.

Read ⁠⁠⁠Proverbs For Paranoids,⁠⁠⁠ John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow.

E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com

BONUS - Slow Learners Advent Spectacular Dec 24, 2023

We're taking a short break until the New Year. But for all you true sickos, here's a short (?) seasonal reading of a great passage from Gravity's Rainbow. Blast it with your family, in the car to visit your relations, on the P.A. system of the local mall as last-minute shoppers scramble to snag the last Power Man or Tickle-Me-Elmo.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all, even the haters and losers. Shout out to "Claus."

EP 9: The Banana Imperium (W/Noah Kulwin) Dec 19, 2023

Covering Part 3: Chapters 13-23. Slothrop goes on a boat, and maybe has sex with a child. Then he goes on another boat. And then back to the same boat. Gravity's Rainbow? They should call this book Boats! Also: Slothrop's beging "thinning out." What does that mean? Has Ozempic claimed Tyrone Slothrop?!

This episode: we talk with with journalist and podcast Noah Kulwin (Blowback) about post-war geopolitics, banana republics, and how the multinational corporation came to supplant the nation-state as the fundamental unit through which power operates.

Other topics include: Porky Pig tattoos, the art of Balthasar Klossowski de Rola aka Balthus, perversion, pedophilia, the fascist connection between youth and beauty, Allan Dulles, Vineland, Nazis as the "ur-evil," conspiratorial vs. skeptical thought, uncorrupted youth corrupted, Tom Pynchon's Ghost, Hannibal Lecter.

Read ⁠⁠Proverbs For Paranoids,⁠⁠ John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow.

Follow "Tom Pynchon's Ghost" on Twitter.

E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com

EP 8: Better Living Through Chemistry (W/Hamilton Morris) Dec 12, 2023

Covering Part 3: Chapters 6-12. Slothrop is reborn as "Rocketman," steals some hash, and meets Mickey Rooney, The John E. Badass appears, and does battle using a hot new drug named Oneirine Thiophosphate (or is it Theo-phosphate???).

This episode: we talk with documentarian and chemist Hamilton Morris about the novel's use of drugs, and chemistry, both technically and metaphorically. Is Oneirine real? Could it be?!

Other topics include: The BoDeans, William S. Burroughs, Alexander "Sasha" Shulgin, alternate histories and uchronies, the feeling of an elf sitting on your chest, S&M sex (again), chemophobia, plasticity, and the weak, pitiable nature of the covalent bond.

Read ⁠Proverbs For Paranoids,⁠ John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow.

Read "(Unfinished) Review of PIHKAL: A Chemical Love Story" attributed to one "Tyrone Slothrop."

E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com

EP 7: The Genocidal Gaze (W/Elizabeth Baer) Dec 05, 2023

Covering Part 3: Chapters 1-5. Our read-through of Gravity's Rainbow continues as we enter THE ZONE. The War--at least in Europe--is over. But the novel is merely beginning, in some ways. Slothrop meets a witch, a Herero revolutionary, and stumbles upon an abandoned rocket factory factory building rockets. Try not to zone out, eh?

We are joined by Elizabeth Baer, author of The Genocidal Gaze, to get some context for German colonialism in southern Africa, and the history of the Herero people. How did Germany's colonial programming shape their 20th century genocidal ambitions?

Other topics include: German runology, cyborgs, magic, IG Farben and chemical cartels, imperialism, hot air balloons, pie fights, the double-integer and how it looks like two people snuggling, Brenschluss, gnostic third-eyes, Kryptosam.

Read Proverbs For Paranoids, John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow.

E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com....OR call our hotline and leave a message: 609-353-6873.

BONUS - Interview with Prüfstand VII director Robert Bramkamp Nov 28, 2023

Hallo Leute!

Interrupting the regular flow with this bonus interview with German writer/director Robert Bramkamp, whose film Prüfstand VII uses Gravity's Rainbowas a way into analyzing the history of the rocket in Germany, and the Nazi program itself. Some very interesting insights on how the novel resonated with a German reader. Also...some fun links below! We'll be back next week with another read-a-long episode, which takes us "Into the Zone." Tschüss!

Rent or Buy Prüfstand VII here.

Read Robert's accompanying book here. Note that the book is in German, but around page 201 you can find the letters between Robert and Pynchon's agent/partner Melanie Jackson, discussing his reenactments of scenes from Gravity's Rainbow and their use in the film. A must-read for all completists and diehard correspondence-heads.

EP 6: Im(i)polex, Gee (W/Alex Ross Perry) Nov 21, 2023

Slow Learners continues! This episode covers the entire second section of Gravity's Rainbow, in which Tyrone Slothrop emerges as our clear hero, or the closest thing to it.

We speak with filmmaker Alex Ross Perry (Her Smell, The Color Wheel, Queen of Earth) about his debut feature, Impolex, and about his relationship with Pynchon's writing, literary adaptation, and The Simpsons Movie. Stay tuned for a juicy detail about the mysterious life of everyone's favorite author!

Other topics include: John le Carré, Graham Greene, hash-laced hollandaise, octopus programming, zoot suit fashions, Teletypes, the Shell Oil multinational corporation, bad dreams, plastics.

Read Proverbs For Paranoids, John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow.

E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com

EP 5: Use Your Allusion (W/Prof. David Cowart) Nov 14, 2023

We wrap the first part of Gravity's Rainbow (chapters 18-21), which sees Pointsman getting lucky, Slothrop shipped off to the Riviera, and Roger and Jessica checking out a cheeky Christmas panto.

In this episode, we're joined by David Cowart, author of Thomas Pynchon and the Dark Passages of History and Thomas Pynchon: The Art of Allusion, to talk about the history of the postmodern novel, and how Gravity's Rainbow defines the form.

Other topics include: Chaucer, Joyce, Christmas Parties, if the British put a moratorium on German art during WWII, meta-narratives, Jerry Garcia, Weimar Germany, Marxists, the cult of the rocket, poster pasting, probability, the mechanical model of the human mind, Newtonian reality vs. Heisenbergian reality, entropy.

Read Proverbs For Paranoids, John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow.

E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com

And/or...

Leave us a voicemail by calling (609) 353-6873.

EP 4: Systems, Scandals, and Literary Hoaxes (w/Alex Shephard) Nov 07, 2023

We continue our journey "Beyond the Zero," covering Gravity's Rainbow, Part 1, Chapters 14-17.

And: Alex Shephard (The New Republic) joins us to talk about literary hoaxes, Pynchonian mysteries, how Gravity's Rainbow scandalized the hoity-toity world of arts and letters.

Other topics include: S&M, prosthetic vaginas, church ceremonies, "The Book," by Pavlov, Thomas Pynchon's jump-shot.

Read ⁠Proverbs For Paranoids,⁠ John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow.

E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com

EP 3: Military Mind Control (W/Stephen Kinzer) Oct 31, 2023

We get further into the weeds, covering Gravity's Rainbow, Part 1, Chapters 10-13.

We're joined by Stephen Kinzer, author of the Sidney Gottlieb biography ⁠Poisoner In Chief⁠ to talk about the history of military mind-control, and Project MKUltra.

Other topics discussed: toilets, jive accessories, having sex with a snake, racism, genocide, LSD.

Read ⁠Proverbs For Paranoids,⁠ John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow.

E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com

EP 2: A Screaming Comes Across The Sky (W/Dr. Jordan Bimm) Oct 24, 2023

The season begins in earnest with this recap and discussion of Gravity's Rainbow, Part 1: Chapters 1-9.

We chat with Dr. Jordan Bimm, a historian of science and technology, about the history of the V-2 rocket, the Space Race, and the mystical/material dimensions of interstellar travel, Britain's most famous witch.

Other topics include: bananas, '50s monster movies, penis-as-dowsing-rod, low humour, Ulysses, etc., etc.

Read ⁠Proverbs For Paranoids,⁠ John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow.

E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com

EP 1: Who is Thomas Pynchon, And Why Are We Talking About His Book? Oct 17, 2023

Hallo Leute!

In this, intro episode of Slow Learners, hosts Asher Dark and John Semley lay out their ambition plan, or "plot": to read through Thomas Pynchon's massive 1973 Gravity's Rainbow, discuss it, and talk with experts about its themes and ideas, big and small, smart and stupid.

Topics this episode include: Prof. Irwin Corey, literary awards, Alice Tully Hall, preterition (and its meritorious price), being feted, Homer Simpson, Boeing, scrambled eggs, Oyster Bay High School, "The Boys," the character of Robert as played by Brad Garrett on the long-running CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, They-Systems vs. We-Systems, hating books, etc., etc.

Read Proverbs For Paranoids, John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow.

E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com

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