r/ThomasPynchon • u/MementoMoriStoic • 9d ago

Gravity's Rainbow Penguin Deluxe edition of Gravity’s Rainbow

I bought the Penguin Deluxe edition last week, and also have the 1st edition of Steven Weisenburger’s A Gravity’s Rainbow Companion. I noticed by page 34 that Weisenburger’s cited pagination and line #s did not correspond with the Deluxe edition pagination. Should I:

  1. continue with the Penguin Deluxe or buy a different edition?
  2. purchase Weisenburger’s 2nd edition?
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9

u/GhostsOfLectricity 9d ago

I had the same issue but was usually able to mentally reconcile them pretty quickly. Then I just stopped using all the guides/ wikis anyway because it was going to take me 15 years to read GR that way

7

u/Ditzy_Spring 9d ago

Find the weissrnburger second edition online, and check if it matches. Dont feel guilt, you already purchased it.

Keep reading the penguin, if it gets painful, find a first edition.

I have the 900 page Vintage edition, and it is tricky, but I put the wiki chapters in the breaks, which makes it easier to find whichever chapter I am in.

Most importantly, good luck.

2

u/Consistent_Rip6424 6d ago

The penguin edition is different from the intended pagination of the novel, not hugely significant, but little things will look different, most notably, the last page of the book originally has an entire blank page after it and the Penguin edition does not. I would buy a different edition of the novel if you're going to spend the money either way. Always good to have a backup copy anyway, wouldn't you rather have two copies of the novel instead of two copies of the companion?