Gravity's Rainbow

Gravity's Rainbow is a novel written by Thomas Pynchon and first published in 1973.

Structure and chronology

Gravity's Rainbow is in four parts, each made up of a number of episodes whose divisions are marked by a series of squares. It has been suggested that these represent sprocket holes as in a reel of film, though they may also bear some relation to the engineer's graph paper on which the first draft of the novel was supposedly written. Another clear influence from film is that characters may suddenly jump out of the plot to perform a musical number, as in a musical film, after which they return to their role in the plot.

Related Topics:
Square - Sprocket - Film - Musical film

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In the July/August/September 2005 issue of Book Forum (see this link and search for "square" to find the paragraph), however, one of the book's editors is quoted as saying that the squares relate to edited correspondence sent between soldiers and their loved ones back home. When family and friends received edited letters, the removed sections would be cut out in squared or rectangular sections. The squares starting the four parts are indicative of what is not written, or what is edited out by an external source (fitting well into Pynchon's well-documented obsession with paranoia).

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The numerological significance of the episodes is in keeping with the use of numerology and Tarot symbolism throughout the novel. Part 1 is built around 21 episodes, the number of cards in the Major Arcana of a Tarot deck if the Fool card is not counted or assigned a null value; Part 2 contains 8 episodes, a number with repeated appearances throughout the narrative but no immediate association outside the narrative; Part 3 includes 32 episodes, a number some speculate is related to the gravitational acceleration of 32 feet per second per second; Part 4 consists of 12 episodes, this number being most commonly associated with the 12 Apostles and in keeping with the closing themes of that section.

Related Topics:
Numerology - Tarot - Major Arcana - Gravitational - Apostles

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Each part opens with its own title and opening quotation or epigraph, and covers a primary time period, excluding analepses:

Related Topics:
Quotation - Epigraph

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• Beyond The Zero - Primarily occurs during the Christmas Advent season of 1944 from December 18-26. The opening quotation by Wernher von Braun is attributed to remarks made by him before the July 1969 Apollo moon launch. "Nature does not know extinction; all it knows is transformation. Everything science has taught me, and continues to teach me, strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death."
• Un Perm au Casino Hermann Goering - Spans the five months from Christmas 1944 through Whitsunday the following year, May 20, 1945. The section title translates as "A Furlough at the Hermann Goering Casino". The opening quotation is by Merian C. Cooper to Fay Wray as recounted by her to the September 21, 1969 issue of the New York Times. "You will have the tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood."
• In The Zone - Set during the summer of 1945 with some overlap of the time period of Part 2. The dominant action takes place from May 18 through August 6, the day of the first atomic bomb attack and also the Feast of the Transfiguration. The familiar quotation is from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. "Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas any more..."
• The Counterforce - Begins shortly after August 6, 1945 and covers the period up to September 14th of that same year, the day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, with extended analepsis to Easter/April Fool's weekend of 1945 and culminating in a prolepsis to 1970. The simple quotation, "What?" is attributed generally to Richard Nixon.