In which we begin our discussion of Mr. Pynchon’s short story collection Slow Learner. First we talk about the Introduction, the only extant Pynchon-on-Pynchon writing available, and then move to the first short story, “The Small Rain.”

Get it here

In “The Small Rain,” the hurricane that has recently passed through southern Louisiana is hurricane Audrey. Here are a few informational links:

A 1957 newsreel about the devastation: (YouTube)

Historical photographs from Cameron Parish, Louisiana, where Lardass Levine would have watched the corpses loaded onto barges.

Information from the National Weather Service’s site.