Mapping the Zone: A Thomas Pynchon discussion podcast

If you like what we're doing and want to support the show, please consider making a donation on Ko-Fi. Funds we receive will be used to upgrade equipment, pay hosting fees, and help make the show better. https://ko-fi.com/mappingthezone If you enjoyed our discussion, please check out the following media we talked about: Films: The Maltese Falcon (1941; dir. John Huston), Double Indemnity (1944; di...

If you like what we're doing and want to support the show, please consider making a donation on Ko-Fi. Funds we receive will be used to upgrade equipment, pay hosting fees, and help make the show better. https://ko-fi.com/mappingthezone If you enjoyed our discussion, please check out the following media we talked about: Films: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968; dir. Stanley Kubrick), Twin Peaks: Fire Wa...

If you like what we're doing and want to support the show, please consider making a donation on Ko-Fi. Funds we receive will be used to upgrade equipment, pay hosting fees, and help make the show better. https://ko-fi.com/mappingthezone If you enjoyed our discussion, please check out the following media we talked about: YouTube: Maggie Mae Fish - The Surprising History of Hollywood Strikes: Blackl...

If you like what we're doing and want to support the show, please consider making a donation on Ko-Fi. Funds we receive will be used to upgrade equipment, pay hosting fees, and help make the show better. https://ko-fi.com/mappingthezone Frank Zappa at the PMRC Senate hearings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgAF8Vu8G0w Maggie Mae Fish — Veterans After War | An Analysis of RAMBO + THE STRAIGHT STO...

We're back from our brief break and ready to jump into the back half of Vineland. We get some more insight into Frenesi's past and her involvement with 24fps as well as her relationship with Brock. Speaking of, we get our first real scenes with Brock, showing just how awful he truly is. If you like what we're doing and want to support the show, please consider making a donation on Ko-Fi. Funds we...

If you like what we're doing and want to support the show, please consider making a donation on Ko-Fi. Funds we receive will be used to upgrade equipment, pay hosting fees, and help make the show better. https://ko-fi.com/mappingthezone Strap into the Puncutron, cue up your preferred accompaniment, and enjoy our discussion on the back half of Chapter 9—Thanatoids, towing conferences, and a whole l...

If you like what we're doing and want to support the show, please consider making a donation on Ko-Fi. Funds we receive will be used to upgrade equipment, pay hosting fees, and help make the show better. https://ko-fi.com/mappingthezone Chapter 9 is quite expansive, both in its content and page count, so we split it into two parts. In the first half, we cover the events ending at DL and Takeshi's...

If you like what we're doing and want to support the show, please consider making a donation on Ko-Fi. Funds we receive will be used to upgrade equipment, pay hosting fees, and help make the show better. https://ko-fi.com/mappingthezone There's so much food talk in this book that we could've turned this show into a food podcast dedicated to awful concoctions. Despite that, we found quite a bit of...

The scheduling goblins kept us from being able to record our discussion on Chapters 7-8 of Vineland this week, so Kate was kind enough to record a reading of Pynchon's 1993 article, The Deadly Sins/Sloth; Nearer, My Couch, To Thee. If you like what we're doing and want to support the show, please consider making a donation on Ko-Fi. Funds we receive will be used to upgrade equipment, pay hosting f...

We’re down one co-host again this week, but that won’t stop us from talking about the fascinating history of the ukulele. Not to give too much away up front, but we’ll just say that the importance of choosing the right tonewood for a uke makes all the difference. We also take a side-quest into debating the pros and cons of analog and digital synthesizers. We also spent a bit of time talking Chapte...

In this special Thanksgiving episode of Mapping the Zone, we take a look at the 1973 made-for-TV special, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. We examine the intertextual relationship between the fabled television special and Pynchon’s magnum opus, Gravity’s Rainbow—how does Charlie Brown’s journey mirror that of Slothrop? Is Lucy’s arc similar to that of Katje, or are there not enough giant octopi? Why...

We’re back and crashing into Vineland like it was a plate-glass (or maybe safety glass) window! In this episode, we spend some time talking about the work as a whole and its place in Pynchon’s oeuvre—often maligned as “weak” (false) or “Pynchon-lite” (gross), the book has garnered something of a reputation among fans. Coming along almost two decades after Gravity’s Rainbow, Vineland certainly—albe...

drum roll These days, at least in North American reading circles, everyone has an impression of the works of Cormac McCarthy. If yours isn't already excessively positive, today's bonus episode on his second book, Outer Dark, is guaranteed to provide at least one reason to give his works a shot, or your money back. Will gives us an overview of the work, talks about why the author's popular reputati...

This is the third of our non-Pynchon related bonus episodes. Today Luke discusses Gene Wolfe and The Solar Cycle. Kate and Luke have been discussing Wolfe and Pynchon possibly influencing one another during our Mason & Dixon episodes so he felt this topic would be pertinent and interesting to Pynchon readers. His discussion is a mixture of summary and analysis that may contain some light spoil...

Have you ever wondered what's going on in the world of literature written by women? Do you want to hear a woman talk about it for potentially too long? Or perhaps not long enough? How about a debut novel written by a woman about a lesbian relationship and its untimely demise at the hands of a submarine mission gone wrong? Does that interest you? Does anyone read these show descriptions? I know I n...

In the first of our non-Pynchon related bonus episodes, Cody leads a discussion about video games as an under-appreciated narrative form, specifically citing the 2017 Square Enix game, NieR: Automata, and its writer/director, Yoko Taro, as a prime example of how effective it can be when done right. While there are some light spoilers about some of the plot, there is nothing discussed which will ta...

In the first of our bonus episodes while we're on break, Kate provides a reading of Pynchon's 1984 New York Times essay. Np analysis, no conversation—this is simply a recitation of the text as it was published for anyone who wants to listen to it. We'll be back next week with another bonus episode, so stay tuned! As always, thanks so much for listening! If you like what we're doing and want to sup...

And so we’ve come to the end of the book and what a journey it has been. We look back on the five months we’ve spent covering Mason & Dixon and discuss what we liked, what we didn’t like, and read some 1-star Goodreads reviews. We’re taking a (well-earned) break and will be back on 12 Nov 2023 to start our next book (stick around to find out what it will be!). In the meantime, we’re going to b...

Mason & Dixon’s twilight years are explored in these final chapters. We see both men find new love, spend time with family and, perhaps most importantly, with each other, before final farewells are bid. A few old friends pop up along the way, but the hardest part comes with saying goodbye, as we must, to these wonderful characters. Join us in our discussion on Chapters 74-78, which comprise th...

We are nearly finished reading and discussing Mason & Dixon and are joined by Brett Biebel, author of A Mason and Dixon Companion which is scheduled for release in 2024. Brett has been sharing his knowledge of the history behind Mason & Dixon as we have been going through the book and his insight has been invaluable. Join us as we talk about the goings-on of Part II: America. Order Brett B...

Mason and Dixon have come to the end of the line and the end of Part II: America. We spent this episode talking about Cody’s theory of Mason & Dixon as stand-ins for Farina and Pynchon, Dixon taking a slave-driver to task, and the “what-if” Chapter 73. It’s been a wild ride so far, but we still have one last part of the book to discuss after this. Order Brett Biebel's Mason & Dixon Compani...

We had quite a bit to talk about this week. The themes, plot lines, and character arcs are getting wrapped up and loose ends are starting to be tied together. Some of Pynchon’s strongest prose, funniest scenes, and thematic elements are on full display in these five chapters, so we hope we can help shine some light on something you may have missed previously or, if this is your first read, somethi...

More were-creatures, please! Cody was unable to join the conversation this week, so Kate, Luke, and Will covered these chapters. The discussion covered the mystical mounds M&D examine, Eastern medicine and Spiritualism, the early settlement of America by non-indigenous people, Stig’s “true” identity, Hsi and Ho’s parallels to M&D, the Synoptic Problem, and so much more. Order Brett Biebel'...

We avoided getting trapped in an 11 day time-vortex, but we did get stuck on some great discussions about these chapters. Despite there not being much in terms of M&D plot, we found a lot to talk about between the tabloid talk show escapades of Chapter 59, the smoke-filled party of Chapter 58, and the epic Lambton Worm story in Chapter 60. Friend of the show and author of a forthcoming Mason &...

The Curse of these chapters almost got us again, but we came through (despite getting us off-schedule for a week). Kate is back to discuss her thoughts on the chapters and we dive into some areas we didn't get to last time around. Stick around after the episode (if you'd like to) for a lengthy discussion on a number of topics (including our pitch for a new Willy Wonka movie). Order Brett Biebel's...