Pynchon Wiki: Against the Day

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Welcome to the Against the Day Wiki

To become a contributor/editor, Create an account.

This is the newly created Wiki for Thomas Pynchon's Against the Day, which will eventually expand to include the guides to Pynchon's other "big" novels, V., Gravity's Rainbow and Mason & Dixon, currently hosted at ThomasPynchon.com. In time, all the novels will be migrated here so that registered users of this wiki can create pages and make changes for those novels' guides.

You can take a look at the cover, read the book description written by Pynchon himself, read the reviews, entertain some theories on the source of the title, or check out the Errata.

1 How to Use this Wiki
2 Alphabetical Index
3 Spoiler-free Annotations by Page
4 Pynchon Wiki Help and Contributor Guidelines
5 External Links
6 Featured Article
7 Gallery

How to Use this Wiki

There are two major ways to use this wiki. The first is the Against the Day Alphabetical Index, used to keep track of the myriad characters, real and imagined, as well as events, arcana, and lots of other stuff. The second is the Spoiler-Free Annotations by Page, which allows the reader to look up and contribute allusions and references while reading the book, in a convenient and spoiler-free manner. These two sections are so far almost entirely different, but we're working on integrating them.

Apart from those, it's up to you!

Alphabetical Index

Information on the characters, events, and everything else in Against the Day, organized alphabetically:

Against the Day Alpha Guide

A·B·C·D·E·F·G·H·I·J·K·L·M·N·O·P·Q·R·S·T·U·V·W·XYZ top of page

Spoiler-free Annotations by Page

An alternate form of commentary on the text. The guiding principle of these annotations is to remain spoiler-free, so that readers can follow along without the fear that later parts of the book will be revealed.

Part One: The Light Over the Ranges	1-25, 26-56, 57-80, 81-96, 97-118
Part Two: Iceland Spar	119-148, 149-170, 171-198, 199-218, 219-242, 243-272, 273-295, 296-317, 318-335, 336-357, 358-373, 374-396, 397-428
Part Three: Bilocations	429-459, 460-488, 489-524, 525-556, 557-587, 588-614, 615-643, 644-677, 678-694
Part Four: Against the Day	695-723, 724-747, 748-767, 768-791, 792-820, 821-848, 849-863, 864-891, 892-918, 919-945, 946-975, 976-999, 1000-1017, 1018-1039, 1040-1062
Part Five: Rue du Départ	1063-1085

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Pynchon Wiki Help and Contributor Guidelines

Click here for help with editing and creating pages.

We have a few conventions we ask that you follow:

When creating a new page, first check to make sure a page/article about what you want to write about hasn't already been created, by checking the list of all Wiki pages on Pynchon Wiki. If a page already exists, please modify that one.

When creating a new page, if its information pertains to one (and only one) specific Pynchon novel, please categorize it with the appropriate identifier. For example, a page pertaining to Against the Day (currently the only novel being annotated here), should use the syntax [[Category:ATD]].

To open a discussion on an individual listing of the Alpha Index, create one using the entry on Peter Tait as an example. Basically, give it a name that identifies the alpha listing (eg [[Name Discussion|DISCUSSION]]) and notice that the visible name will be "DISCUSSION" in full caps, so it stands out a bit.

More help for this wiki available here.

External Links

The Modern Word: counting down to ATD

The Fictional Woods - a Pynchon forum

Featured Article

Pynchon writing on Marilyn Monroe's death

The World is at Fault
A letter that Pynchon wrote to his former Cornell roommate Jules Siegel in the early 1960s, featuring a thematic connection to a scene in Against the Day.

"When Marilyn Monroe got out of the game, I wrote something like, 'Southern California's special horror notwithstanding, if the world offered nothing, nowhere to support or make bearable whatever her private grief was, then it is that world, and not she, that is at fault.'

I wrote that in the first few shook-up minutes after hearing the bulletin..."

( more...)