Mapping the Zone: A Thomas Pynchon discussion podcast
Each episode, we take a deep-dive into the book we are focusing on—we explore the references, characters, plot, and everything in between from a non-scholarly point of view. We are just four fans who love these books and can talk about them endlessly.
Episodes
We're going to be covering the short stories in Slow Learner after each section of Against the Day, as we are going through that. This episode we discuss The Small Rain, Pynchon's first published short story. What we liked, what we didn't like, and how Pynchon has grown as a writer are all topics of conversation and we hope you'll enjoy listening to our ramblings. We'll return to Against the Day in the next episode.
As always, thank...
After discussing Part One of Against the Day, we spent some time talking with our guest, Johan Harstad, about whatever came to mind—the music of Hüsker Dü, David Foster Wallace, the films of Ingmar Bergman, and so much else.
We'll be back in two weeks to discuss The Small Rain, the first short story from Pynchon's Slow Learner collection before diving back into Against the Day.
We've reached the end of The Light Over the Ranges, the first part of Against the Day! We were incredibly lucky to be joined by Johan Harstad, Norwegian author of Buzz Aldrin, What Happened To You In All the Confusion?, The Red Handler and, most recently, Under the Paving Stones, The Beach! We discuss our thoughts with everything that has happened in the story so far, the goofy, fun-natured boy-adventurers known as The Chums of Cha...
Woo-hee! finally, we cover some real ground. Back on the Inconvenience, the Chums are bickering and splitting within themselves, while here on land our own crew are becoming "frazzled" in their own way. It seems such polarization can only be expected as we reach the end of Part One, but stay tuned through this analysis for the announcement of our thrilling conclusory episode of The Light Over the Ranges.
If you like what we're doing...
With the recent passing of one of our favorite filmmakers, David Lynch, Kate and Cody sit down to talk about the impact of his work on our lives.
If you aren't familiar with his body of work, the discussion covers his entire filmography without spoiling any major plot points. He was a truly unique artist and one who will be dearly missed by the both of us.
As always, thanks so much for listening!
Email: mappingthezonepod@gmail.com
This week in Mapping the Zone: Movement appears stalled. Not only do we remain with the Traverse household, but the only motion to be found is that of the mind. Kit begins to fathom the depth of Vectorism through the primal texts of electicity, and who is to find his talents but Nikola Tesla? It turns out, the understudy-in-perpetuity to Vibe, Foley Walker. The Earth may be striving to destroy our schedule, but the intrepids of thi...
Having made our way to the Rockies, now is the time to dismiss doubts as to what purposes Webb might intend. Not much travel along traditional coordinates in this conversation, instead we meet the waterheads of the Traverse clan and contemplate the molds in which the bonds between workers and those rascals who despise all shapes of mandate were set. Just try and keep your hat on, heavier things have been seen blown away in these mo...
Well, folks, the Chums have flown away, and our cartographers are stuck on ground duty. Don't feel too broken up, though! While the vertical may be abandoned for now, we'll trace and retrace Middle America alongside Merle Rideout and begin zooming in on Dally, a true heroine-to-be. Alchemy, photography, lovelornity, and more, await our kind listeners within this episode of Mapping the Zone.
Next episode: Pages 81-96 (ending on “Veik...
While the Chums made landfall last episode, that descent wasn't even the half of it. In this week's ep, we go deeper into the world staging the Columbian Exposition, and begin acquainting ourselves with the relentless cascade of characters who populate Against the Day. You didn't think we'd be settling down for just another tale of carefree whimsy, did you?
Next episode: Pages 57-80 (ending on “...as if silver were alive, with a sou...
Zounds! It's time to take flight with those loveable scamps, The Chums of Chance and head for the extravagent World's Fair!
Join us on our journey into Pynchon's longest novel, Against the Day, and let us know if you have any questions or comments about the book!
***There is a slight audio issue that occurs during our introduction which resulted in the audio dropping out for a few seconds.***
If you like what we're doing and want to s...
Come one, come all, gather to hear of the tale of the Loop Garoo Kid and his travails through the Western wasteland as depicted within the covers of Ishmael Reed's second novel, Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down! Listen as our correspondent, Will, rants and raves about the depths to be found just at the surface of this gem of a book, let alone whatever great hoard of philosophies and fun might be seen beyond the surface by any so-moved ...
This week on Mapping the Zone, Luke leads us through a discussion of M. John Harrison's Kefahuchi Tract trilogy. The trilogy is comprised of the novels Light, Nova Swing, and Empty Space: A Haunting.
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
A...
In the newest installment of Kate's bonus episodes, she has turned away from her ordinary method of covering new voices in fiction written by women to talking about one of the authors she almost never stops mentioning on the main program. Yet she has chosen not to cover his primary work, but the less popular, technically unfinished novel that very few people read. Why does she do this? Listen to find out.
If you like what we're doin...
In this week's bonus episode, Cody discusses the metafictional, post-noir detective novel The Red Handler—simultaneously a love letter to and hilarious deconstruction of the hardboiled stories of the 30's and 40's. It's a highly entertaining and brilliantly written novel that anyone who loves hardboiled/noir novels is sure to enjoy.
Grab a copy here: https://www.openletterbooks.org/products/red-handler
If you like what we're doing an...
We've finished another Pynchon book and convene once more to talk about Bleeding Edge; this time in its entirety. We're joined by Andrew, better known as Byron's Glowing Filament on Twitter and the creator of the Gravity's Rainbow Analysis substack (link below).
We’re taking a (well-earned) break and will be back some time in November to start Against the Day.
In the meantime, we’re going to be releasing some bonus episodes until our...
We apologize in advance for some audio issues which presented themselves after we had finished recording. We've done our best to clean them up and make everything sound as good as possible.
Information on the guest for our Bleeding Edge wrap-up episode, as well as our next book and schedule changes for the show going forward are at the end of the discussion.
https://vimeo.com/73716114 (Bleeding Edge trailer)
If you like what we're doi...
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
As always, thanks so much for listening!
Email: mappingthezonepod@gmail.com
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mappingthezone.bsky.social
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pynchonpod
Instagram: https://www.in...
The article mentioned by Luke: “Hallowe’en? Over Already?” https://x.com/Ethelmer77/status/963687634483793920?lang=en
If you enjoyed our discussion, please check out the following media that relates to these chapters:
Books/Authors: The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright, The Trial by Franz Kafka
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 upgrad...
If you enjoyed our discussion, please check out the following media that relates to these chapters:
Music: Mitch Hedberg - Mitch All Together, The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart - Bob Newhart, Riot Grrrl music
Books/Authors: The Shock Doctrine (2007) and No Logo (1999) by Naomi Klein, https://www.jsasoc.com/docs/Sep1101.pdf (Global Consciousness Project analysis), When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut
If you like ...
We are off this week, so Kate has recorded a reading of Fear and Loathing in America by Hunter S. Thompson, taken from his "Hey Rube" column for ESPN Page 2.
As always, thanks so much for listening!
Email: mappingthezonepod@gmail.com
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mappingthezone.bsky.social
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pynchonpod
Popular Podcasts
Daniel Jeremiah of Move the Sticks and Gregg Rosenthal of NFL Daily join forces to break down every team's needs this offseason.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.