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Ari Aster is the only director I can think of that would be a good fit for adapting IJ to the screen. Not saying it should be done... But Aster would get us the closest imo

Daniel, a fun take, I really enjoyed it. First video of yours I've seen but I'm looking forward to reading your book. PTA has said that like much of his work, its a love letter to the San Fernando Valley culture of his youth. You mention the postmodern aesthetics , and I think its spot on. The "gestalt" of the 70s plays in any setting but that PTA sets it in the places he loves the most and knows the best just makes a lot of sense. Write what you know, right? And to have the juxtaposition with the Golden Age of Hollywood and the 60s, and the glam of the 70s, is such a cool synthesis of style. It hasn't acquired the same status (and never may), and it probably won't launch as many stars, but I think Licorice Pizza stands with Dazed and Confused as an exemplar of the American period piece. Its so well done, and so well acted that the leads themselves already look iconic by the end of the film....as they so completely inhabit the characters. Cooper Hoffman is the star that people will someday associate with being launched by Licorice Pizza...and surely Alana Haim as well...both have been working steadily and have projects in post so that's exciting. Can't wait to see what these two bring us. I think the genius of PTA shines thru in how he leverages gestalt principles so artfully - you mention that many fans felt it was lite on concept, but I'd argue the story structure, the editing, the framing (which you covered nicely) all serve perfectly to disrupt the standard narrative forms to impart the sense of frenetic energy and urgency and angst of youth. PTA uses these techniques like a chef a knife, deftly carving his story into scrumptious morsels of nostalgia. When time is disrupted on screen, the effect on the viewer is profound - you don't know if its been 10 days or 10 weeks. But isn't that exactly how many experienced a summer of youth, come and gone in a flash? And by depriving the viewer of linearity and exposition, he serves up so many little treats of scenes that can only be tasted - not savored. There is so much going on in the minds of young people, so many plans, so many dreams, so many ideas. Like running after a swarm of soap bubbles, most slip away and pop before they can be gripped. The joy of getting that biggest shimmery one that wobbles eccentrically and elusively a fingertip away on a rogue current, that's what the ending of this film was like for me. It was there, just always out of reach, from the opening scene. Such a beautiful, masterful way to tell such an ultimately simple story.

I was looking for Neverending Story videos and somehow ended up here.

It was my first introduction to a maximalist novel, and one of the very earliest examples of maximalism. It took me about a year to read it. I would go several months of only reading maybe a few pages and putting it down for something else. At other times I would read several hundred pages much faster, and repeat that cycle. There was so much constant noise and chaos and it feels like it was showing how people miscommunicate through their language both intentionally and unintentionally, and I agree that the constant lack of dialogue cues were disorienting. It's not the longest book I've ever read, but definitely the most esoterically dense book I've read. I don't know why I enjoy reading Gaddis' version of maximalism compared to Pynchon, who I've struggled to like so far. Carpenter's Gothic by Gaddis is I think less than 300 pages and maybe it would more tolerable than 900+ and 800 pages like The Recognitions, JR, A Frolic of His Own is about 600 pages He has another one called Agape Agape that is around 140 pages. They all use a ton of flowing dialogue between characters and constant switches and infrequent punctuation. When I read Gaddis it feels like the rapid flow of thinking that feels sort of random at times and constantly switches to new thoughts and ideas and it becomes hard to keep track of references that occurred pages ago, like trying to remember something forgotten.

With the bird he looks like a smart, early, red-headed JonTron.

Heart = soul/spirit

Thank you

great video! i only saw it when it came out but what really stuck with me was how the film depicted the relationship between gender and perception. like, i believe in the very first scene we see this kid who talks like a movie star and notably not like a 15 year old kid, then the kid leaves and an age appropriate man (her boss? can’t remember) SA’s the protagonist. and variations of that just play out over and over for the rest of the movie. he was taken as seriously as an adult successful entrepreneur both by all of the characters in the movie as well as by the movie himself and we only really cut away from that happening to show her not being taken seriously as an adult at all even though she’s like almost 30 years old. but you convinced me i need to watch it again, because a lot of the stuff you mentioned went totally over my head!

Really wholesome, well thought out, and inspiring video man! Really great take near the end on what entitlement really means too :) Awesome channel dude

‘A testament to the moons tearing free…’ i think he’s referring to the idea that the moon is thought to be formed after an asteroid hit the earth and broke pieces off, those peaces coalescences into the moon. Its like pieces of ground forcibly dislodged from the earth have formed nee celestial body, that is forced to orbit the place it used to inhabit. In exile. I think the ocean is like a footprint for the moon, a shadow earth, just as oedipa is tracking the footsteps of the trestero I apologise for applying human traits to inanimate objects, but i hear poets have been at this for centuries…

I found this book oddly comforting to read - like spending time with my gran. The narrative voice very skewed into relation to the plot (they don’t seem to go together at all), but in a way that I found enjoyable.

Pynchon’s V (my middle initial) met UES Manhattan (where I also lived) met “Inherent Vice” Mikey Wolfmann aka Roland Arnall (The Monster) never met L Ron Hubbard The Master of Scibots.

Thank you for this great video! What I find hilarious about this book is that everyone who is trying to interpret it is put into Oedipa's position: you might be onto something, you might be wrong, or you might be completely insane. There is no better way to blow a punch at the heart of Meaning than to create a book which resists any interpretation. Another example - Philipp Dick's Ubik.

I also agree the main theme is about what inspires future generations and the people who want to gatekeep and call those inspired to progess as fakes or contrived. The no true scotsmen fallacy is utilized often here

This is a good shirt Danny

Your videos are always a pleasure! I had the additional pleasure of reading Lionel Lancet a while back, it was very entertaining. Menippean Satire in the Pynchonesque tradition, we might call it? ;) Indeed, I had the feeling you were directly invoking Lot 49 in the first page, especially when you used the word "crier"-I underlined that, ha ha! Whereas, Lionel himself gave me strong Ignatius Reilly vibes-have you ever read Confederacy of Dunces? If not, I think you’ll love it. (Everyone loves it.) John Kennedy Toole was the author. Anyway, congratulations on your book, it's a beaut! I look forward to the Liminal Spaces project, I really enjoyed your video about your creative process. I’m commenting because I love when you go down the alchemical / mystical / seeker path in your videos. That always perks my ears up! My new fiction collection Divine In Essence treads a similar thematic path, and I think you might find it worth your time. I’m not saying I’m Goethe, but I’m THIS CLOSE. I don't make a practice of shoving my book in everyone's face, but I think what makes me want to recommend it to you is your advanced Negative Capability. It’s such a rare quality in our culture… You seem able to entertain multiple perspectives in your head at once, without judging or condemning any of them, which is exactly the kind of reader I’m looking for! Divine In Essence will be released at the end of the month, but you can check it out and preorder it from the publisher if it clicks with you here: whiskeytit.com/product/divine-in-essence/

Great analysis. Still didn't enjoy reading it though...

apparently pynchon liked the master so much he gave pta his blessing to do inherent vice so i definetly think youre on to something :) and inherent vice might feel less "pynchonian" than the heads would like but i still think its a groovy and underrated film thats very rewarding on multiple viewings... full of discontinuous edits and hilarious throw-away lines worthy of pynchon ... film has a tendency towards realism and coherence of action so that pychons style cant be replicated in a visual narrative ... but pynchon himself praised the film and im excited to see pta try again with vineland ❤ (great essay btw!)

I am guilty of always being excited when Pugnax appeared in AtD. Particularly when he asked his Italian dog friend to come aboard the airship as his guest of honor lol In AtD I saw all of the Chums of Chance as being an aspect of Pynchons pyche. Darby in particular was a knod to his more playful and immature voice that was pretty restrained in this novel imo compared to GR...outside "that" scene with Kit and the dog 🫣

Lake invarerity, casino - trump tower. As a contrast to the ocean This is Oedipa's and humans inclination to think of transcendent moreness. Wealthy people influencing negatively, even potentially causing paranoia

This was great, V is possibly still my all-time fave novel.

My goodness! What is this gem of a channel??? Where has it been all my life??? You're brilliant!!!

Berlin Alexanderplatz is my personal favorite of German Literature and one of my all time favorites. Like you mentioned the world of Weimar Berlin no longer exists and ceased to exist pretty quickly after this was published. While the story itself is incredible, this concept as well as all of the experimentation in storytelling really make this book so great.

Have you read Michael Kohlhaas and Simplicius yet?

There is Fassbinder’s movie also, it is like twelve hours. I have never watched.

Infinite Jest is my fav book & Beau is Afraid is my fav movie ❤️

If you're gonna skip some of The Recognitions, yeah skip Part III

The book reminds me a lot of Larry McMurtry. It definitely has that plainspoken, dry-as-the-desert cadence to the prose, but it's the actual drama, and how enormous you realize the implications of that drama are in terms of what it says about civilization and how stuff like law and order are just what we make of it, that make it impactful. The characters are a brilliant mix between symbolic exaggerations and realistic depictions, giving them all a larger-than-life place in the novel, while also leaving enough room for all of them to fit together.

Awesome essay. I love V so much.

Yep. Good stuff. Spiritualism is all scientific, just doesn't connect to THE science of today. A great work on seeing yourself in the other is the manga "homonculus", do check it out! Love and blessings!

15 minutes I'll never get back. Horrible review. He isn't well read in philosophy or history. He can't even pronounce Plotinous correctly... bless his heart.

Very interesting. Brings me to listening to a Course in Miracles with Keith.

My year old kitten 🍎 named Apple is also existential daily lol, I hope Pringle has a pool to play in. I've never been near musical equipment like what's above your piano. It reminds me of the school electrical room at my father's elementary school (both parents language teachers) You have good draw, I only remember names not quotes from books I read. Reading books from the past is so peaceful. If you need a movie to watch while bored watch Babette's Feast 1987 it's my favorite movie because of the soundtrack and it's about making a French dinner for old people. And I just gifted some elderflower lemonade to a new friend try some it's the best drink besides yuzu fruit juice! Stay hydrated don't buy 7$ coffee try new drinks instead of you know where to shop. Gr8 video.

I think what makes me so interested but frustrated and confused about writing the novel I’m writing is that I have no idea what I’m doing, but have undertaken an incredible amount as I do it which honestly feels like it’s helping me understand conflict and development as I try to understand and configure the ideas I want to portray and explore. I remember starting seemed so bleak, but as you described it, I just needed to get into the mud and throw myself into it.

Sounds exciting, man!

I think the more people you reach and meet the more your old albums will be streamed. My musician friend feels like a failure even with lots of followers so I hear that. Pringle is such a cute name, jaidensanimations has two green parrots😮 the only job I want is to work at a clothing store, I hated college. Your shirt is so Halloween coded. If you teach young kids read them some Shel Silverstein next year there's a new book from 2017 from his archive. I've never heard the word piffy before lol Great video! 🪺🦜Coffee is so good, but I get anxious in coffee shops, without a mask that is.. your never wasting your time... Don't catch covid, the mask makes people less likely to bother you.

Very frustrating, I found it hard to understand a single word

Excellent video, Daniel. I want to first say, don't feel too bad for not finishing The Recognitions. It's a difficult novel, and I think (and I'm pretty positive there is a quote or article somewhere to back this up) that Gaddis intentionally made it not very reader-friendly. Ignoring Franzen's essay "Mr. Difficult," which sort of introduced me to this novel originally, it is a difficult novel regardless. The allusions, references, style, and syntax, along with Wyatt's sort of disintegration into the text, making it even harder to identify who and when is speaking, make The Recognitions a very disorienting read. However, I have found immense joy in the art of rereading it, as masochistic as that may sound, and have come to consider this novel a great friend of mine. The ambiguities and the references I might not always get, and I don't think it's the point to understand every piece of religious symbolism or archaic phrase. The enjoyment I get from reading it comes from reading a master of prose and style and letting the language wash over me. I came into contact with this novel at a pretty young age, and honestly, the first time I read it, I didn't get much out of it. Since reading more books considered "difficult," I would still rank this novel up there among difficult books. But then there lies a more fundamental question. Should a book be read or finished if it is considered too difficult, or if the reading experience gets to a point, like for you, where it does not become pleasurable anymore and pursuing further along in the story would only entail displeasure? I think you have every right to put the book down when it becomes arduous and just plain not fun anymore, and honestly, I don't blame you. As for disliking the characters and not being able to connect with them, except for your interest in Esther and Wyatt, that's a gripe I have with the works of Gaddis I have read. Even more so with JR. Especially JR. His characters in JR are, I think, even more dislikable and harder to connect with than those in The Recognitions, so much so that I feel that Gaddis was purging some major inner demons during the process of writing that novel (not to deter you from checking out JR, though). The party scenes in The Recognitions with the New York Yuppies I have always found entertaining, and I let Gaddis carry me along the scenes, following the decadence of the characters as they inevitably all collapse into utter disarray in the final sections of the novel. Truly depressing and heartbreaking on the highest of levels. If you ever do decide to finish the book or to restart down the line, I hope you see what I mean, as it does become even more metaphorical, metaphysical, and dare I say entropic. Thanks again for your video, as this comment was fueled by passion for the novel and caffeine, lol.

This is fire bro

The Recognitions is decidedly not a fun book but, a psychotic one. At any future point you may pick it up and experience the end/climax 😝 I think Gaddis and Wallace are in the same vein more because of the scathing satire. The art scene in New York is actually fake plastic monsters 😝 good on you for following your reading heart!

I had a not too dissimilar experience with this book. I did end up finishing it but only because I was ruthlessly determined to. Similiarly felt that the first 300 pages were beautiful and really hit a wall as I kept going. I blame some of it on the fact that I was unemployed at the time so I both had time to read it but it's not necessarily a cheerful book if you're an aspiring artist looking for employment. It's a tough book to rate in my mind because I can recognize it's brilliance and I think readers like me should absolutely give it a try, but I ended up getting a lot more enjoyment out of his other novels.

Love it man

❤❤❤

Thanks for this. I’ve got an interest in novels about false identities and deception. This seems quite different from the talented mr ripley and the great gatsby. I knew this was about forgery but it seems to go deeper into cultural history- from Ireland 🇮🇪

I know this is from 3 years ago, but I’m just now reading this book. I must say that I am enjoying the read but I have no idea what is going on most of the time. Your video has clarified some but I’m still lost. lol! I bought this book because it basically called to me. I’ve never had a book do that before. I was on another channel and the dude was reviewing it, and suddenly I felt the need to order this book, and, so I did.

Fascinating

I'm going to read it after I finish "Gravity's Rainbow" which I am absolutely loving.

So, I'm v late to the party but isn't there a convention in crime writing of the unreliable narrator - because they don't see or don't understand some events (child's POV for instance), or they're withholding information. This book reminds me most of Agatha Christie's Murder of Roger Ackroyd (in this withholding/POV element only). Once one knows, thinking back there are passages where she describes herself being overtaken by a divine Anger, where she loses her sense of herself, and I pegged these as the times she decides to kill the hunters. So it didn't feel too contrived to me. It's more of gradual dawning in the reader, too, than a last page confession, which I would have struggled with.

are you on tiktok by chance? you seem familiar

Yep, a fantastic book! Thanks for posting this. Your enthusiasm is lovely to hear and makes me want to reread the book immediately! For me the idea that it's totally about fakery is close to correct, but it certainly doesn't call for a return to authenticity. What's authentic for someone is certainly not a forgery, but, like Paris, it isn't entirely original either. It also strikes me as distinctly American, which might be worth thinking more about on reread.