Brain Pain discussion

"The Spine 2012" will be our main read for the year. The six books selected for 2012 are:

The Waves
Modern Classics Ulysses Annotated Student's Edition
Recogntions
Gravity's Rainbow
Hopscotch
Infinite Jest

These six books represent a cross-section of the 20th century's challenging novels. Each uses experimental/alternative forms to tell their stories.

The Waves, by Virginia Woolf, was first published in 1931. Six characters speak in turn about their lives, interspersed between nine brief third-person interludes detailing a coastal scene at varying stages in a day from sunrise to sunset. This is a short novel and maybe the least challenging on the list. We'll spend five weeks discussing this first novel. Think of it as a warm-up for Ulysses...

Ulysses, by James Joyce, was first published in 1922. Ulysses is divided into 18 chapters or "episodes" which more or less correspond to Homer's The Odyssey. Ulysses' stream-of-consciousness technique, careful structuring, and experimental prose - full of puns, parodies, and allusions, makes this a seriously challenging effort which many a stout-hearted reader has tried and failed to finish. We'll be devoting 10 weeks of discussion to Joyce's masterpiece.

The Recognitions, by William Gaddis, was first published in 1955. This first novel was poorly received initially, but was later recognized as a masterpiece of American literature and is often cited as an influence on the post-modern works of Joseph McElroy, Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, and David Foster Wallace. We'll be devoting nine weeks of discussion to this 960 page novel.

Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon, was first published in 1973. This post-modern magnum opus is Pynchon's third and arguably most famous book, nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. A sprawling, complex novel with over 400 characters and multiple, interwoven narrative threads, Gravity's Rainbow is another behemoth that has crushed the weak of heart under its transgressive heel. We will discuss this novel for nine weeks.

Hopscotch, by Julio Cortázar, was first published in 1963. This will be our one work in translation for 2012. Hopscotch has been characterized as an 'antinovel' or 'counter-novel, written in an introspective stream-of-consciousness, with chapters that can be read in different orders, thereby creating the possibility of multiple endings. We will devote nine weeks of discussion to this novel.

And to wind up the first year's Spine reads, we have:

Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace, published in 1996. This long and complex work takes place in a future vision of North America. The book is often noted for its extensive endnotes and footnotes which Wallace characterized as "a method of disrupting the linearity of the text while maintaining some sense of narrative cohesion." This complex work will occupy 11 weeks of discussion and will close out the year. If the Mayan calendar is correct and the world ends in December 2012, can you think of a more perfect novel to be reading and discussing?!!?

For each of these novels there will be one thread for "Questions, Resources, and General Banter". Post any links, reviews, and extra-textual resources here.

There will be multiple discussion threads, one for each weekly section of the works read. The dates and associated pages/chapters will be clearly marked to prevent accidental spoilers. A detailed reading/discussion schedule will be posted for all six books.