Against the Day, a novel by Thomas Pynchon, first appeared in the United States on November 21, 2006. The narrative takes place between the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and the time immediately following World War I and features more than a hundred characters spread across United States, Europe, Mexico, Central Asia, and "one or two places not strictly speaking on the map at all," according to the book jacket blurb written by Pynchon. At 1,085 pages it is the longest of Pynchon's novels, and like its predecessors an example of historiographic metafiction or metahistorical romance.^{[citation needed]} Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. ... For other uses, see Country (disambiguation). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... This article is about the literary concept. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... Penguin Group is the second largest trade book publisher in the world. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... “ISBN” redirects here. ... This article is about the literary concept. ... Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. ... is the 325th day of the year (326th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... One-third scale replica of Daniel Chester Frenchs Republic, which stood in the great basin at the exposition, Chicago, 2004 The Worlds Columbian Exposition (also called The Chicago Worlds Fair), a Worlds Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... Map of Central Asia showing three sets of possible boundaries for the region Central Asia located as a region of the world Central Asia is a vast landlocked region of Asia. ... Originally coined by Linda Hutcheon. ... Metahistorical Romance is a term describing postmodern historical fiction, defined by Amy J. Elias in Elias defines metahistorical romance as a form of historical fiction continuing the legacy of historical romance inaugurated by Sir Walter Scott but also having ties to contemporary postmodern historiography. ...

Title

The novel's title apparently references a verse in the Bible (2 Peter 3:7) reading "the heavens and the earth (... are ...) reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men."^[1] This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library. ... The Second Epistle of Peter is a book of the New Testament of the Bible. ...

Non-biblical sources for the title may also exist: Contre-jour, a term in photography, literally means "against (the) day"; there are also two uses of the phrase "against the day" in Pynchon's Mason & Dixon.^[2] Contre-jour is French for against daylight, referring to photographs taken when the camera is pointing towards the light source. ... Photography [fәtɑgrәfi:],[foʊtɑgrәfi:] is the process of recording pictures by means of capturing light on a light-sensitive medium, such as a film or electronic sensor. ... Mason & Dixon book cover Mason & Dixon, a post-modern novel by Thomas Pynchon first published in 1997, centers on the collaboration of the historical Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in their astronomical and surveying exploits in Cape Colony, Saint Helena, Great Britain and along the Mason-Dixon line in British...

A 1998 children's novel by Michael Cronin uses the same title: it tells an alternate history of a Britain occupied by Nazis. Michael Cronin is a British actor. ... Alternative history or alternate history can be: A History told from an alternative viewpoint, rather than from the view of imperialist, conqueror, or explorer. ...

Speculation prior to publication

As Pynchon researched and wrote the book, a variety of rumors about it circulated over the years. One of the most salient reports came from the former German minister of culture, and before that, the publisher of Henry Holt and Company, Michael Naumann, who said he assisted Pynchon in researching "a Russian mathematician [who] studied for David Hilbert in Göttingen", and that the new novel would trace the life and loves of mathematician and academic Sofia Kovalevskaya. Kovalevskaya briefly appears in the book, but Pynchon may have partly modeled the major character Yashmeen Halfcourt on her. Michael Naumann (born 1941) was the German minister of culture in 1998. ... David Hilbert (January 23, 1862, Königsberg, East Prussia – February 14, 1943, Göttingen, Germany) was a German mathematician, recognized as one of the most influential and universal mathematicians of the 19th and early 20th centuries. ... Göttingen marketplace with old city hall, Gänseliesel fountain and pedestrian zone Göttingen ( ) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany. ... Sofia Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya (Russian Софья Васильевна Ковалевская), also known as Sonya Kovalevsky (January 15, 1850-February 10, 1891), was the first major Russian female mathematician, and also the first woman who was appointed to a full professorship in Europe 1889 (Sweden). ...

Author's synopsis/book jacket copy

In mid-July 2006, a plot-synopsis signed by Pynchon himself appeared on Amazon.com's page for the novel, only to vanish a few days later. Readers who had noticed the synopsis re-posted it.^[3] This disappearance provoked speculation on blogs and the PYNCHON-L mailing list about publicity stunts and viral marketing schemes. Shortly thereafter, Slate published a brief article revealing that the blurb's early appearance was a mistake on the part of the publisher, Penguin Press.^[4] Associated Press indicated the title of the previously anonymous novel^[5] Amazon. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... An electronic mailing list, a type of Internet forum, is a special usage of e-mail that allows for widespread distribution of information to many Internet users. ... Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness, through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. ... Slate is an online news and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley and owned by Microsoft (as part of MSN). ... Penguin Group is the second largest trade book publisher in the world. ... The Associated Press, or AP, is an American news agency, the worlds largest such organization. ...

1893 Chicago World's Fair

Pynchon's synopsis states that the novel's action takes place "between the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and the years just after World War I". "With a worldwide disaster looming just a few years ahead, it is a time of unrestrained corporate greed, false religiosity, moronic fecklessness, and evil intent in high places. No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred." Pynchon promises "cameo appearances by Nikola Tesla, Bela Lugosi and Groucho Marx", as well as "stupid songs" and "strange sexual practices". File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... One-third scale replica of Daniel Chester Frenchs Republic, which stood in the great basin at the exposition, Chicago, 2004 The Worlds Columbian Exposition (also called The Chicago Worlds Fair), a Worlds Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... Nikola Tesla (1856-1943)[1] was a world-renowned Serbian inventor, physicist, mechanical engineer and electrical engineer. ... Bela Lugosi as Dracula United States stamp. ... “Groucho” redirects here. ...

The novel's setting

"moves from the labor troubles in Colorado to turn-of-the-century New York City, to London and Göttingen, Venice and Vienna, the Balkans, Central Asia, Siberia at the time of the mysterious Tunguska Event, Mexico during the Revolution, postwar Paris, silent-era Hollywood, and one or two places not strictly speaking on the map at all."

Like several of Pynchon's earlier works, Against the Day includes both mathematicians and drug users. "As an era of certainty comes crashing down around their ears and an unpredictable future commences, these folks are mostly just trying to pursue their lives. Sometimes they manage to catch up; sometimes it's their lives that pursue them." Official language(s) English Capital Denver Largest city Denver Largest metro area Denver-Aurora Metro Area Area  Ranked 8th  - Total 104,185 sq mi (269,837 km²)  - Width 280 miles (451 km)  - Length 380 miles (612 km)  - % water 0. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Göttingen marketplace with old city hall, Gänseliesel fountain and pedestrian zone Göttingen ( ) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany. ... For other uses, see Venice (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Vienna (disambiguation). ... This article is about Siberia as a whole. ... Trees felled by the Tunguska blast. ... Leonhard Euler, considered one of the greatest mathematicians of all time A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and research is the field of mathematics. ... For other meanings, see Drug (disambiguation). ...

The synopsis concludes:

If it is not the world, it is what the world might be with a minor adjustment or two. According to some, this is one of the main purposes of fiction.

Let the reader decide, let the reader beware. Good luck.

The published jacket-flap of the book featured an edited-down version of this text, omitting the last three sentences, references to specific authorship (as well as misspelling Nikola Tesla's first name as "Nikolai"; Pynchon had previously spelled it correctly).^[6] Nikola Tesla (1856-1943)[1] was a world-renowned Serbian inventor, physicist, mechanical engineer and electrical engineer. ...

Plot

Nearly all reviewers of the book mention the Byzantine nature of the plot. Louis Menand in The New Yorker gives a simple description:^[7] The term Byzantine was first applied to the eastern Roman Empire by historians in the 16th century, decades after the Fall of Constantinople to the forces of Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire on 29 May 1453. ... Louis Menand (first name pronounced lü-E) is a prominent American writer and academic, best known for his book The Metaphysical Club (2001), an intellectual and cultural history of late 19th and early 20th century America. ... The New Yorker is an American magazine that publishes reportage, criticism, essays, cartoons, poetry and fiction. ...

"[T]his is the plot: An anarchist named Webb Traverse, who employs dynamite as a weapon against the mining and railroad interests out West, is killed by two gunmen, [...] who were hired by the wicked arch-plutocrat Scarsdale Vibe. Traverse's sons [...] set out to avenge their father’s murder. [...] Of course, there are a zillion other things going on in Against the Day, but the Traverse-family revenge drama is the only one that resembles a plot [...] that is, in Aristotle’s helpful definition, an action that has a beginning, a middle, and an end. The rest of the novel is shapeless [...]"

As to the multitude of plot dead-ends, pauses and confusing episodes that return to continue much later in the narrative, Menand writes:

"[T]he text exceeds our ability to keep everything in our heads, to take it all in at once. There is too much going on among too many characters in too many places. [...] This [including tone shifts in which Pynchon spoofs various styles of popular literature] was all surely part of the intention, a simulation of the disorienting overload of modern culture."

Extract

The following extract from Against the Day appeared in the Penguin Press Winter 2007 catalog: It has been suggested that Penguin Modern Poets, Penguin Great Ideas be merged into this article or section. ...

Back in 1899, not long after the terrible cyclone that year which devastated the town, Young Willis Turnstone, freshly credentialed from the American School of Osteopathy, had set out westward from Kirksville, Missouri, with a small grip holding a change of personal linen, an extra shirt, a note of encouragement from Dr. A. T. Still, and an antiquated Colt in whose use he was far from practiced, arriving at length in Colorado, where one day riding across the Uncompahgre plateau he was set upon by a small band of pistoleros. "Hold it right there, Miss, let's have a look at what's in that attractive valise o'yours."

"Not much," Willis said.

"Hey, what's this? Packing some iron here! Well, well, never let it be said Jimmy Drop and his gang denied a tender soul a fair shake now, little lady, you just grab ahold of your great big pistol and we'll get to it, shall we." The others had cleared a space which Willis and Jimmy now found themselves alone at either end of, in classic throwdown posture. "Go on ahead, don't be shy, I'll give you ten seconds gratis, 'fore I draw. Promise." Too dazed to share entirely the gang's spirit of innocent fun, Willis slowly and inexpertly raised his revolver, trying to aim it as straight as a shaking pair of hands would allow. After a fair count of ten, true to his word and fast as a snake, Jimmy went for his own weapon, had it halfway up to working level before abruptly coming to a dead stop, frozen into an ungainly crouch. "Oh, pshaw!" the badman screamed, or words to that effect.

"¡Ay! Jefe, jefe," cried his lieutenant Alfonsito, "tell us it ain' your back again."

"Damned idiot, o' course it's my back. Oh mother of all misfortune—and worst than last time too."

"I can fix that," offered Willis.

"Beg your pardon, what in hell business of any got-damn punkinroller'd this be, again?"

"I know how to loosen that up for you. Trust me, I'm an osteopath."

"It's O.K., we're open-minded, couple boys in the outfit are evangelicals, just watch where you're putting them lilywhites now—yaaagghh—I mean, huh?"

"Feel better?"

"Holy Toledo," straightening up, carefully but pain-free.

"Why, it's a miracle."

"¡Gracias a Dios!" screamed the dutiful Alfonsito.

"Obliged," Jimmy guessed, sliding his pistol back in its holster.

The reference to the "cyclone" dates this scene to shortly after April 27, 1899, when a tornado passing through Adair County, Missouri cut a path of destruction three blocks wide, killed thirty-two people and destroyed hundreds of buildings.^[8] The popular song "Just as the Storm Passed O'er" reflects the event, and the Kimball Piano Company exploited the incident for its advertising, when one of their instruments was carried a long distance by the tornado but still found in working condition. Year 1899 (MDCCCXCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday [1] of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Kirksville is a city in Adair County, Missouri, United States. ... This article is about a type of complementary medicine practiced worldwide. ... Kirksville is a city in Adair County, Missouri, United States. ... Dr. Andrew Taylor Still (1828-1917) is considered the father of osteopathic medicine. ... Colts Manufacturing Company (CMC--formerly Colts Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company) is a United States firearms manufacturer founded in 1847. ... The Uncompahgre Plateau in western Colorado is a distinctive large uplift part of the Colorado Plateau rising to elevations around 10,000 feet. ... Gunslinger from The Great Train Robbery Gunslinger, also gunfighter, is a name given to men in the American Old West who had gained a reputation as being dangerous with a gun. ... A duel is a formalized type of combat. ... For other senses of this word, see outlaw (disambiguation). ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      The word evangelicalism often refers to... April 27 is the 117th day of the year (118th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 248 days remaining. ... A tornado in central Oklahoma. ... Adair County is a county located in the state of Missouri. ... Kimball International, Inc. ...

Writing styles

Many reviewers have commented on the various writing styles in the book that hark back to popular fiction of the period. John Clute identifies four "story clusters", each with one or more prose-styles mimicking a popular fiction genre in the style used before the end of World War I:^[9] John [Frederick] Clute is a Canadian born author and critic who lives in Britain. ...

1. "The Airship Boys cluster, which is told in a boys' adventure idiom."
Examples: "boys' adventure fiction, from the [contemporary] Airship Boys tale by Michael Moorcock to Horatio Alger; the Dime Novel in general; the British school story in general ... the future war novel" Michael John Moorcock (born December 18, 1939, in London, England) is a prolific English writer primarily of science fiction and fantasy who has also published a number of literary novels. ... Horatio Alger, Jr. ...

2. "Western Revenge cluster, which is told through an array of western narrative voices…"
Examples: Edward S. Ellis, Bret Harte, Jack London Edward Sylvester Ellis was an American author who was born in 1840 in Ohio, and died at Cliff Island, Maine, 1916. ... Portrait of Bret Harte - oil painting by John Pettie (1884)[1] For the professional wrestler, see Bret Hart. ... For other persons named Jack London, see Jack London (disambiguation). ...

3. "The Geek Eccentric Scientist cluster, which is told in an amalgam of styles."
Examples: "the Lost Race novel; the Symmesian Hollow Earth tale; the Tibetan Lama or Shangri-La thriller; the Vernean Extraordinary Journey; the Wellsian scientific romance; the Invention tale and its close cousin the Edisonade ..." John Cleves Symmes (1779 - May 1829) was born in New Jersey to Timothy Symmes. ... Shangri-La is a fictional place described in the novel, Lost Horizon, written by British writer James Hilton in 1933. ... This article is about the French author. ... Herbert George Wells (September 21, 1866 – August 13, 1946), better known as H. G. Wells, was an English writer best known for such science fiction novels as The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, The First Men in the Moon and The Island of Doctor Moreau. ... Edisonade is a now-archaic term for stories from the Victorian and Edwardian eras that would now be classified as science fiction. ...

4. "The Flaneur Spy Adventuress cluster, told in any style that comes to hand, from the shilling shocker to Huysmans." Clute writes that this cluster gradually comes to dominate the second half of the book, just as the Western cluster dominates the first half.
Examples: "the European spy romance thriller a la E. Phillips Oppenheim; the World Island spy thriller a la John Buchan; the mildly sadomasochistic soft porn tale as published by the likes of Charles Carrington in Paris around the turn of the century." [Clute may mean to include "the Zuleika Dobson subgenre of the femme fatale tale in particular" in this cluster.] Joris-Karl Huysmans (February 5, 1848 - May 12, 1907) was a French novelist. ... Edward Phillips Oppenheim (October 22, 1866 – February 3, 1946), was an English novelist, in his lifetime a major and successful writer of genre fiction including thrillers. ... John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (August 26, 1875 - February 11, 1940), was a Scottish novelist and politician who served as Governor General of Canada. ... Zuleika Dobson is a 1911 novel by Max Beerbohm, a satire of undergraduate life at Oxford. ... Convicted spy Mata Hari made her name synonymous with femme fatale during WWI. A femme fatale (plural: femmes fatales) is an alluring and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. ...

Clute sees (but does not specifically categorize) another style mimicked in the book: "the large number of utopias influenced by Edward Bellamy and William Morris". Pynchon also certainly has an eye to the steam punk sub-genre in Against the Day. Edward Bellamy, circa 1889. ... This page is about William Morris, the writer, designer and socialist. ... Steampunk is a subgenre of speculative fiction, usually set in an anachronistic Victorian or quasi-Victorian alternate history setting. ...

Characterization

Some reviewers complain that Pynchon's characters have little emotional depth and therefore don't excite the sympathy of the reader. For example, Laura Miller in Salon.com: Salon. ...

Time doesn't exist, but it crushes us anyway; everyone could see World War I coming, but no one could stop it — those are two weighty paradoxes that hover over the action in "Against the Day" without truly engaging with it. This is the stuff of tragedy, but since the people it sort of happens to are flimsy constructions, we don't experience it as tragic. We just watch Pynchon point to it like bystanders watching the Chums of Chance's airship float by overhead.^[10]

New York Times reviewer Michiko Kakutani writes of the characterizations: "[B]ecause these people are so flimsily delineated, their efforts to connect feel merely sentimental and contrived." The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...

As a complement to Miller's criticism about tragedy, Adam Kirsch sees comedy as undercut as well, although parody remains:

The gaudy names Mr. Pynchon gives his characters are like pink slips, announcing their dismissal from the realm of human sympathy and concern. This contraction of the novel's scope makes impossible any genuine comedy, which depends on the observation of real human beings and their insurmountable, forgivable weaknesses. What replaces it is parody, whose target is language itself, and which operates by short-circuiting the discourses we usually take for granted. And it is as parody — in fact, a whole album of parodies — that Against the Day is most enjoyable.^[11]

Principal characters

In alphabetical order by last name

• Lew Basnight, a "Psychical Detective"
• The Chums of Chance (the crew of the skyship Inconvenience):
  • Miles Blundell, the jocular cook
  • Chick Counterfly, scientific officer
  • Lindsay Noseworth, second-in-command, "Master-At-Arms, in charge of discipline aboard the ship" (ATD, p. 4)
  • Pugnax, a dog rescued from a fight in Washington, D.C. by the Chums of Chance, he reads and can communicate with humans via "Rff-rff" sounds
  • Randolph St. Cosmo, ship commander (ATD, p. 3)
  • Darby Suckling, "baby" of the crew, (ATD, p. 3) and later legal-officer of the ship.
• Ruperta Chirpingden-Groin, aristocratic English traveler
• Yashmeen Halfcourt, "the stunningly beautiful ward of a British diplomat in Central Asia"^[12], and "polymorphous mathematical prodigy"^[13], ward of the T.W.I.T., entrusted to the group by her adopted father, Colonel Halfcourt
• Sloat Fresno, one of the murderers of Webb Traverse, along with Deuce Kindred
• Rao V. Ganeshi, academic from India
• Kieselguhr Kid, terrorist (the original recipe for dynamite involved mixing nitroglycerin with kieselguhr — porous dirt containing silica)
• Deuce Kindred, one of the murderers of Webb Traverse, along with Sloat Fresno
• Cyprian Latewood, "a homosexual twit possibly modeled on Evelyn Waugh's Sebastian Flyte"^[14]
• Al Mar-Faud, a minor character who mispronounces his Rs as Ws
• Hunter Penhallow, son of Constance Penhallow who goes to the U.S. with the Vormance expedition
• The Rideouts:
  • Dahlia (or "Dally") Rideout, Merle Rideout's (adoptive) daughter
  • Erlys Rideout, Merle Rideout's ex-wife, who has run off with Zombini, a magician
  • Merle Rideout, an itinerant photographer and scientific inventor
• Mouffette, the name of a papillon lap-dog (mouffette in French = "skunk")
• Professor Renfrew, British professor with a bitter personal rivalry with one Professor Werfner ("Renfrew" spelled backwards)
• Captain Sands, inspector in London
• Lionel Swome, T.W.I.T. (see below)
• Nikola Tesla, the celebrated inventor and investigator of electrical phenomena, rival of Thomas Edison
• The (traversing) Traverses:
  • Frank Traverse, an engineer; son of Webb and brother of Reef, Kit and Lake
  • Kit Traverse, youngest son of Webb and brother of Frank, Reef and Lake; he studies mathematics at Yale (and studies with the physicist Willard Gibbs, whose work is preparing the way for twentieth-century thermodynamics) and at Gottingen
  • Lake Traverse, daughter of Webb and sister of Frank, Reef, and Kit
  • Mayva Traverse, wife of Webb and mother of his children
  • Reef Traverse, a cardsharp; son of Webb and brother of Frank, Kit and Lake
  • Webb Traverse, "a turn-of-the-century ... miner"^[14] and "an anarchist familiar with dynamite, and he might or might not be the elusive mad bomber who destroys railroad bridges and other mine property"^[12]; father of Frank, Reef, Kit and Lake; killed by Sloat Fresno and Deuce Kindred
• Trespassers, "who appear to be dead people from the future"^[12]
• Professor Heino Vanderjuice of Yale University, associate of the Chums of Chance,
• The (bad) Vibes:
  • Colfax Vibe
  • Cragmont Vibe
  • Dittany Vibe
  • Edwarda Vibe, née Beef,
  • Fleetwood Vibe
  • Scarsdale Vibe, "the most ruthless of the mine owners"^[12] and "a caricature of capitalist evil"^[14]
  • Wilshire Vibe, Scarsdale's brother
• Foley Walker, Scarsdale Vibe's special assistant
• Professor Werfner, German professor with a bitter personal rivalry with one Professor Renfrew ("Werfner" spelled backwards)
• Luca Zombini, a travelling magician.
  • Erlys Rideout, his wife, Merle Rideout's ex-wife, and Dahlia's mother.
  • Cici, Dominic, Nunzison, his sons.
  • Bria, Concetta, Lucia, his daughters.

Evelyn Waugh, as photographed in 1940 by Carl Van Vechten Arthur Evelyn St. ... Nikola Tesla (1856-1943)[1] was a world-renowned Serbian inventor, physicist, mechanical engineer and electrical engineer. ... “Edison” redirects here. ... Josiah Willard Gibbs (February 11, 1839 – April 28, 1903) was an American mathematical physicist who contributed much of the theoretical foundation that led to the development of chemical thermodynamics and was one of the founders of vector analysis. ... Thermodynamics (from the Greek θερμη, therme, meaning heat and δυναμις, dynamis, meaning power) is a branch of physics that studies the effects of changes in temperature, pressure, and volume on physical systems at the macroscopic scale by analyzing the collective motion of their particles using statistics. ...

Notable organisations

• Chums of Chance, Five "cheerful young balloonists who drop into the story at critical moments and who seem capable of time travel"^[12], all aboard the skyship Inconvenience
• T.W.I.T., True Worshippers of the Ineffable Tetractys (T.W.I.T.), "a covert London group fighting the powers of darkness".^[15]

The Tetractys, also known as the decad, is a triangular figure consisting of ten points arranged in four rows: one, two, three, and four points in each row. ...

Themes

See also: List of references in Against the Day

Critic Louis Menand sees an organizing theme of the book as Abstruse topics in Against the Day, a novel released in 2006 by Thomas Pynchon, are numerous. ... Louis Menand (first name pronounced lü-E) is a prominent American writer and academic, best known for his book The Metaphysical Club (2001), an intellectual and cultural history of late 19th and early 20th century America. ...

something like this: An enormous technological leap occurred in the decades around 1900. This advance was fired by some mixed-up combination of abstract mathematical speculation, capitalist greed, global geopolitical power struggle, and sheer mysticism. We know (roughly) how it all turned out, but if we had been living in those years it would have been impossible to sort out the fantastical possibilities from the plausible ones. Maybe we could split time and be in two places at once, or travel backward and forward at will, or maintain parallel lives in parallel universes. It turns out (so far) that we can’t. But we did split the atom — an achievement that must once have seemed equally far-fetched. Against the Day is a kind of inventory of the possibilities inherent in a particular moment in the history of the imagination. It is like a work of science fiction written in 1900.^[7] Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ...

Menand states that this theme also appeared in Pynchon's Mason & Dixon and that it ties in with a concern present in nearly all of Pynchon's books: Mason & Dixon book cover Mason & Dixon, a post-modern novel by Thomas Pynchon first published in 1997, centers on the collaboration of the historical Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in their astronomical and surveying exploits in Cape Colony, Saint Helena, Great Britain and along the Mason-Dixon line in British...

[Pynchon] was apparently thinking what he usually thinks, which is that modern history is a war between utopianism and totalitarianism, counterculture and hegemony, anarchism and corporatism, nature and techne, Eros and the death drive, slaves and masters, entropy and order, and that the only reasonably good place to be in such a world, given that you cannot be outside of it, is between the extremes. "Those whose enduring object is power in this world are only too happy to use without remorse the others, whose aim is of course to transcend all questions of power. Each regards the other as a pack of deluded fools," as one of the book’s innumerable walk-ons, a Professor Svegli of the University of Pisa, puts it. Authorial sympathy in Pynchon’s novels always lies on the "transcend all questions of power," countercultural side of the struggle; that’s where the good guys — the oddballs, dropouts, and hapless dreamers — tend to gather. But his books also dramatize the perception that resistance to domination can develop into its own regime of domination. The tendency of extremes is to meet, and perfection in life is a false Grail, a foreclosure of possibility, a kind of death. Of binaries beware.

[...] Science is either a method of disenchantment and control or it is a window onto possible worlds: it all depends on the application. [...] [T]he relevant science [in this book] [...] is mathematics, specifically, the mathematics associated with electromagnetism, mechanics, and optics — with electric light, the movies, and, eventually, weapons of mass destruction.

Steven Moore, in a Washington Post book review, writes: It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into utopia. ... Forms of government Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Totalitarianism is a term employed by some scientists, especially those in the field of comparative politics, to describe modern regimes in which the state regulates nearly every aspect of public and private behavior. ... In sociology, counterculture is a term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. ... Hegemony (pronounced or ) (Greek: ) is the dominance of one group over other groups, with or without the threat of force, to the extent that, for instance, the dominant party can dictate the terms of trade to its advantage; more broadly, cultural perspectives become skewed to favor the dominant group. ... Anarchist redirects here. ... Historically, corporatism or corporativism (Italian: corporativismo) refers to a political or economic system in which power is given to civic assemblies that represent economic, industrial, agrarian, social, cultural, and professional groups. ... “Natural” redirects here. ... As distinguished from episteme, the Greek word techne (literally: craftsmanship) is often translated as craft or art. ... Eros ( érōs) is passionate love, with sensual desire and longing. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Thanatos (Freud). ... For a less technical and generally accessible introduction to the topic, see Introduction to entropy. ... For other uses, see Holy Grail (disambiguation). ... Electromagnetism is the physics of the electromagnetic field: a field which exerts a force on particles that possess the property of electric charge, and is in turn affected by the presence and motion of those particles. ... For other uses, see Mechanic (disambiguation). ... For the book by Sir Isaac Newton, see Opticks. ... ...

Pynchon is mostly concerned with how decent people of any era cope under repressive regimes, be they political, economic or religious. [...] 'Capitalist Christer Republicans' are a recurring target of contempt, and bourgeois values are portrayed as essentially totalitarian."^[16] Bourgeois at the end of the thirteenth century. ... The concept of Totalitarianism is a typology or ideal-type used by some political scientists to encapsulate the characteristics of a number of twentieth century regimes that mobilized entire populations in support of the state or an ideology. ...

Jazz (or, as Pynchon refers to it in one variant spelling of the novel's time period, "Jass") provides a non-hierarchical model of organization that the author relates to politics about a third of the way through the novel, according to Leith, who quotes from the passage, in which ‘Dope’ Breedlove, an Irish revolutionist at a Jazz-bar makes the point. Breedlove characterises the Irish Land League as "the closest the world has ever come to a perfect Anarchist organization".^[17] For other uses, see Jazz (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Jazz (disambiguation). ... The Irish Land League was an Irish political organization of the late 19th century which aimed to help poor tenant famers. ...

"Were the phrase not self-contradictory," commented ‘Dope’ Breedlove.

"Yet I’ve noticed the same thing when your band plays — the most amazing social coherence, as if you all shared the same brain."

"Sure," agreed ‘Dope’, "but you can’t call that organization."

"What do you call it?"

"Jass."

In a Bloomberg News review, Craig Seligman identifies three overarching themes in the novel: doubling, light and war.^[14] Bloomberg Television is a cable television network that broadcasts business and financial news 24 hours a day. ...

Doubling

"Pynchon makes much of a variety of calcite called Iceland spar, valued for its optical quality of double refraction; in Pynchonland, a magician can use it to split one person into two, who then wander off to lead their own lives", Seligman writes.^[14] Calcite from Brushy Creek Mine, Missouri, USA. The mineral calcite is a carbonate of calcium corresponding to the formula CaCO3 and is one of the most widely distributed minerals on the Earths surface. ...

The doubling effect of Iceland spar. Compare with the book's cover image above.

Sam Leith identifies the same theme: ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (2592x1944, 1296 KB) Calcite 方解石 Shizhao摄于北京动物园 File links The following pages link to this file: Calcite ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (2592x1944, 1296 KB) Calcite 方解石 Shizhao摄于北京动物园 File links The following pages link to this file: Calcite ...

"The book is shot through with doubling, or surrogacy. There are the palindromic rival scientists Renfrew and Werfner. [...] Events on one side of the world have an occult influence on those on the other. 'Double refraction' through a particular sort of crystal allows you to turn silver into gold. Mirrors are to be regarded with, at least, suspicion. It gets more complicated, and sillier. We’re introduced to the notion of ‘bilocation’ — where characters appear in two places at once — and, later, to that of 'co-consciousness', where someone’s own mind somehow bifurcates. 'He wondered if he could be his own ghost,' Pynchon writes of one character."^[17]

War

Although the novel directly portrays the First Balkan War (1912 - 1913), it dispatches World War I after a few pages. But during most of the book the Great War "looms as an approaching catastrophe", according to Seligman.^[14] This theme might form part of what Menand describes above as the struggle between power-pursuers and power-transcenders. Combatants Ottoman Empire Balkan League: Bulgaria Greece Montenegro Serbia Commanders Nazim Pasha, Zekki Pasha, Esat Pasha, Abdullah Pasha, Ali Rizah Pasha Vladimir Vazov, Vasil Kutinchev, Nikola Ivanov, Radko Dimitriev Crown Prince Constantine, Panagiotis Danglis, Pavlos Kountouriotis King Nicholas I, Prince Danilo Petrović, Mitar Martinović, Janko Vukotić Radomir Putnik, Petar Bojovi... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ...

Reviewer Adam Kirsch criticizes Pynchon's overall treatment of political violence:^[11]

This is a novel, after all, in which most of the heroes are proud terrorists [...] [H]is attitude towards violence is childishly sentimental, and ruthless in a way only possible to a writer whose imagination has never dwelt among actual human beings. Mr. Pynchon's heroes (the poor, the workers, Anarchists) assassinate and blow up his villains (mine owners, Pinkerton thugs, the bourgeoisie) with no more qualms than the Road Runner has about dropping an anvil on the Coyote. In the novel as in the cartoon, good and evil are unproblematic, death is unreal, and sheer activity takes the place of human motive.

Anarchist redirects here. ... Pinkerton guards escort strikebreakers in Buchtel, Ohio, 1884 The Pinkerton National Detective Agency was a private U.S. security guard and detective agency established by Allan Pinkerton in 1850. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... “Road Runner” redirects here. ...

Light

Light becomes a "preoccupation [...] to which everything, finally, returns", according to reviewer Sam Leith.^[17]

Light appears as a religious symbol or element and as a scientific phenomenon, as Peter Keouge, in his Boston Phoenix review^[15] points out: The Boston Phoenix is an alternative weekly publication in Boston, Massachusetts that emphasizes arts and entertainment coverage, as well as alternative political viewpoints. ...

Here is where some familiarity with pre-Einsteinian theories of light (the discredited concept of Æther is vindicated) and mathematical controversies around the turn of the last century pays off. Kit, for example is a Vectorist. He will later get cozy with Yashmeen, herself an exotic orphan. She’s a Quarternionist (cf. William Rowan Hamilton’s formula i² = j² = k² = ijk = -1, which somehow, I suspect, relates to the structure of the book, each term in the equation applicable to each of the novel’s five sections) obsessed with the Zeta function of G.F.B. Riemann. In addition, she has ties to the True Worshippers of the Ineffable Tetractys (T.W.I.T.), a covert London group fighting the powers of darkness through Pythagorean beliefs and the tarot.

In his Bloomberg News review, Craig Seligman portrays the book as "overstuffed with wonders" often related to light, including a luminous Mexican beetle and the Tunguska Event of 1908 that leaves the native reindeer soaring and "stimulated by the accompanying radiation into an epidermal luminescence at the red end of the spectrum, particularly around the nasal area" (reminiscent of the luminescence of a certain fictional reindeer). "[T]he novel is full of images of light, like those beetles and those noses (and the title)", Seligman reports.^[14] Look up aether on Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word vector means carrier in Latin; it is derived from the Latin verb vehere, which means to carry. ... In mathematics, the quaternions are a non-commutative extension of the complex numbers. ... Sir William Rowan Hamilton (August 4, 1805 – September 2, 1865) was an Irish mathematician, physicist, and astronomer who made important contributions to the development of optics, dynamics, and algebra. ... In mathematics, the Riemann zeta function, named after German mathematician Bernhard Riemann, is a function of significant importance in number theory, because of its relation to the distribution of prime numbers. ... Bernhard Riemann. ... Pythagoras of Samos (Greek: ; between 580 and 572 BC–between 500 and 490 BC) was an Ionian (Greek) philosopher[1] and founder of the religious movement called Pythagoreanism. ... This article is about the general history, iconography, and uses of tarot cards. ... Trees felled by the Tunguska blast. ...

Reviewer Tom Leclair notes light in various flashy appearances:

God said, 'Let there be light'; Against the Day collects ways our ancestors attempted to track light back to its source and replaced religion with alternative lights. There is the light of relativity, the odd light of electromagnetic storms, the light of the mysterious Tunguska event of 1908, when a meteorite struck Siberia or God announced a coming apocalypse. [...] the dynamite flash, the diffracted light of Iceland spar, the reflected light of magicians' mirrors, the 'light writing' of photography and movies, the cities' new electric lighting that makes the heavens invisible at night.^[1] Two-dimensional analogy of space-time curvature described in General Relativity. ... Electromagnetism is the physics of the electromagnetic field: a field which exerts a force on particles that possess the property of electric charge, and is in turn affected by the presence and motion of those particles. ...

Scott McLemee sees connections between light, space-time and politics:^[18]

The "mythology" governing Pynchon's novel (enriching it, complicating it, and giving the untutored reader a headache) involves the relationship between the nature of light and the structure of space-time. It's an effort, perhaps, to imagine something beyond our familiar world, in which "progress" has meant a growing capacity to dominate and to kill.

"Political space has its neutral ground," says another character in what may be the definitive passage of the novel. "But does Time? is there such a thing as the neutral hour? one that goes neither forward nor back? is that too much to hope?" (Or as Joyce has Stephen Dedalus say in "Ulysses": "History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.")

It remains unclear whether Pynchon himself regards such escape or transcendence as really possible. This article is about the writer and poet. ...

Abstruse topics

Main article: List of references in Against the Day

Pynchon uses a large number of abstruse topics, geographical locations and abstruse words in his book that many readers might find difficult. Abstruse topics in Against the Day, a novel released in 2006 by Thomas Pynchon, are numerous. ...

References

1. ^ ^{a b} LeClair, Tom, Lead Zeppelin: Encounters with the unseen in Pynchon's new novel, a review of Against the Day in the Dec/Jan 2007 Book Forum. The first reviewer who identified the title with the Biblical quote was Alexander Theroux in the November 24 The Wall Street Journal review Fantastic Journey (full text for subscribers only).
2. ^ Chapter 12 (p. 125) and 70 (p. 683). Against the Day Title at Against the Day Wiki. Pynchon's single use of the phrase in Against the Day ends a chapter at the page 805.
3. ^ Amazon.com's Customer Discussions > Against the Day forum > Found It, Reid Burkland Jul 16, 2006 12:48 PM PDT
4. ^ Patterson, Troy. "Mystery solved", Slate, 2006-07-20. Retrieved on 2006-07-24. 
5. ^ Italie, Hillel. "New Thomas Pynchon novel is on the way", Associated Press, 2006-07-20. Retrieved on 2006-07-24. 
6. ^ Both versions of the synopsis at Thomas Pynchon Wiki
7. ^ ^{a b} The New Yorker Menand, Louis, "Do the Math: Thomas Pynchon's latest novel", The New Yorker, November 27, 2006 edition, posted November 20, accessed November 28, 2006
8. ^ "The Kirksville Cyclone in 1899". Truman State University (2006-01-31). Retrieved on 2006-08-04.
9. ^ John Clute, "Excessive Candour: Aubade, Poor Dad", Sci-Fi Weekly, November 27, 2006
10. ^ Salon Miller, Laura, Salon November 21, 2006, accessed November 28, 2006
11. ^ ^{a b} [1] Kirsch, Adam, "Pynchon: He Who Lives By the List, Dies by It", review of Against the Day, The New York Sun, November 15, 2006, accessed November 28, 2006
12. ^ ^{a b c d e} [2] Dubail, Jean, review of Against the Day in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, November 19, 2006, accessed November 26, 2006
13. ^ [3]Lasdun, James, "The carnival goes on (and on)" review of Against the Day in The Guardian of London, November 25, 2006, accessed November 26, 2006
14. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=ab6WLEn2ciGU&refer=muse Seligman, Craig, "Pynchon's First Novel in 10 Years Has Sex, Math, Explosives", review of Against the Day at web-site of Bloomberg News, article dated November 20, 2006, accessed November 26, 2006
15. ^ ^{a b} [4]Keouge, Peter, "Light Reading: Thomas Pynchon's up Against the Day", Boston Phoenix, November 14, 2006, accessed November 26, 2006
16. ^ [5] Moore, Steven, "The Marxist Brothers: A long-awaited work from the elusive cult novelist", review of Against the Day in Washington Post Book World, November 19, 2006, page BW10, accessed November 28, 2006
17. ^ ^{a b c} Leith, Sam, "And all that jass - The Spectator on Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon" The Spectator, November 24, 2006, accessed November 28, 2006
18. ^ McLemee, Scott, "It's a sprawled world, after all: Thomas Pynchon's complex 'Against the Day' features bomb-throwing anarchists, pre-Einsteinian physics, Balkan politics and bisexual romance", review in Newsday, November 19, 2006

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) is an international daily newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company in New York City, New York, USA, with Asian and European editions, and a worldwide daily circulation of more than 2 million as of 2006, with 931,000 paying online subscribers. ... Slate is an online news and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley and owned by Microsoft (as part of MSN). ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 201st day of the year (202nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 205th day of the year (206th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Associated Press, or AP, is an American news agency, the worlds largest such organization. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 201st day of the year (202nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 205th day of the year (206th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The New Yorker is an American magazine that publishes reportage, criticism, essays, cartoons, poetry and fiction. ... is the 331st day of the year (332nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 324th day of the year (325th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 332nd day of the year (333rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Truman State University is a public liberal arts and sciences university in Missouri and a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 216th day of the year (217th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... John [Frederick] Clute is a Canadian born author and critic who lives in Britain. ... is the 331st day of the year (332nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 325th day of the year (326th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 332nd day of the year (333rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... For the original newspaper of the same name, see The New York Sun (historical) The New York Sun is a contemporary five-day daily newspaper published in New York City. ... is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 332nd day of the year (333rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 323rd day of the year (324th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 330th day of the year (331st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 329th day of the year (330th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 330th day of the year (331st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 324th day of the year (325th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 330th day of the year (331st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 318th day of the year (319th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 330th day of the year (331st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... ... is the 323rd day of the year (324th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 332nd day of the year (333rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Cover of the Nov 12, 2005 issue of The Spectator magazine. ... is the 328th day of the year (329th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 332nd day of the year (333rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Newsday is a daily tabloid-size newspaper that primarily serves Long Island and the New York City borough of Queens, although it is sold throughout the New York City metropolitan area. ... is the 323rd day of the year (324th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Against the Day Wiki
• Official UK publisher's site
• Against the Day Weblog
• Chumps of Choice Weblog
• Emanating Against the Day Blog

Reviews

• About.com - Gregory Schneider
• A Gathering of the Tribes - Jon Rachmani, 1/18/2007
• The American Prospect - Eric Rauchway, 1/5/2007
• ArtVoice - Todd Natti, 1/18/2007
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Donna Seaman, 12/10/2006
• Austin American-Statesman - Roger Gathman, 11/19/2006
• Austin Chronicle - James Renovitch, 12/15/2006
• The Australian (AU) - Don Anderson, 12/23/2006
• Bloomberg News - Craig Seligman, 11/20/2006
• BookForum - Tom LeClair, Dec/Jan 2007
• BookPage - Robert Weibezahl
• Boston Globe - Mark Feeney, 11/19/2006
• Boston Phoenix - Peter Keough, 11/14/2006
• Buffalo News - Joseph Conte, 12/3/2006
• Chicago Reader - Jonathan Rosenbaum, 12/1/2006
• The Christian Science Monitor - Yvonne Zipp, 1/16/2007
• Cleveland Plain-Dealer - Jean Dubail, 11/19/2006
• The Complete Review
• Denver Post - Dorman T. Shindler, 12/9/2006
• Desicritics - Richard Marcus, 2/6/2007
• Dissident Voice - Ron Jacobs, 11/20/2006
• The Economist - 11/30/2006
• Entertainment Weekly - Ken Tucker, 11/28/2006
• Ficciones (Greek Review) - Dr. Basileios Drolias, 2/3/2007
• Financial Times (UK) - Lodovic Hunter-Tilney, 12/1/2006
• Glanz @ Elend (DE) - Goedart Palm, 12/2006
• The Globe and Mail (CA) - Greg Hollingshead, 12/2/2006
• The Guardian (UK) - James Lasdun, 11/25/2006
• The Guardian/Comment Is Free (UK) - John Crace, 11/21/2006
• Houston Chronicle - Terrence Doody, 12/1/2006
• The Independent (UK) - Tim Martin, 11/26/2006
• The Independent (UK), II - David Goldblatt, 12/15/2006
• Kansas City Star - Chris Packham, 12/3/2006
• LA CityBeat - Anthony Miller, 12/14/2006
• Library Journal - Barbara Hoffert, 11/21/2006
• The London Paper (UK) - Stuart McGurk, 12/13/2006
• London Review of Books (UK) - Michael Wood, 1/4/2007
• Los Angeles Times - Christopher Sorrentino, 11/19/2006
• Metro (UK) - Robert Murphy, 11/23/2006
• Miami Herald - Ariel Gonzalez, 12/3/2006
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Mike Fischer, 11/24/2006
• The Modern Word - Allen Ruch, 11/20/2006
• The Nation - John Leonard, 11/22/2006
• New Statesman (UK) - Rachel Aspden, 12/4/2006
• New York Magazine - Keith Gessen, 12/11/2006
• New York Newsday - Scott McLemee, 11/19/2006
• New York Post - Quentin Rowan, 12/3/2006
• New York Review of Books - Luc Sante, 1/11/2007
• New York Sun - Adam Kirsch, 11/15/2006
• New York Times - Michiko Kakutani, 11/20/2006
• New York Times Sunday Book Review - Liesl Schillinger, 11/26/2006
• The New Yorker - Louis Menand, 11/20/2006
• Newsweek - Malcom Jones, 11/17/2006 (part 1 of a "serial review"); 11/21/2006 part 2, 12/1/2006 part 3
• The Observer (UK) - David Gale, 11/26/2006
• The Oregonian - Richard Melo, 11/26/2006
• Philadelphia Inquirer - Carlin Romano, 11/19/2006
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Kristofer Collins, 12/31/2006
• Providence Journal - Sam Coale, 11/26/2006
• Publishers Weekly - 10/24/2006
• St. Petersberg Times - Colette Bancroft, 12/10/2006
• Salon - Laura Miller, 11/21/2006
• The San Diego Union-Tribune - James Leigh, 11/26/2006
• San Francisco Chronicle - David Hellman, 12/10/2006
• Santa Cruz Sentinel - Matt King, 1/28/2007
• Sci Fi Weekly - John Clute, 11/27/2006
• The Scotsman (UK) - Tom Adair, 11/25/2006
• The Scotsman (UK), Scotland On Sunday - Stuart Kelly, 11/26/2006
• Seattle Times - John Freeman, 11/17/2006
• The Spectator (UK) - Sam Leith, 11/24/2006
• The Sydney Morning Herald (AU) - Anthony Macris, 12/15/2006
• Tampa Tribune - Kevin Walker, 11/19/2006
• The Telegraph (UK) - Alex Massie, 11/20/2006
• Time Magazine - Richard Lacayo, 11/12/2006
• Time Out New York - Joshua Rothkopf, 11/16/2006
• The Times (UK) - Douglas Kennedy, 12/2/2006
• The Times, Sunday Times (UK) - John Dugdale, 12/10/2006
• The Times Literary Supplement (UK) - Sophie Ratcliffe, 11/29/2006
• USA Today - Bob Minzesheimer, 11/20/2006
• The Utah Statesman - Ben Clarke, 1/19/2007
• Vail Daily News - Matt Zalaznick, 1/1/2007
• Village Voice - John Haskell, 12/7/2006
• Washington Post - Steven Moore, 11/19/2006
• Washington Times - Bruce Allen, 12/10/2006