Slow Learners
Episodes
VINELAND EP 6/7: Voicemails
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We clear out the voicemail machine. Included: Proustian Failure, One Battle After Another, Bungled Anarchist Theory, Joyce Comparisons, Dante and His ...
VINELAND EP 6: Vineland The Good?
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We are back. Sorry for the delay--we were just uh...savoring the book's ending, and the richness of the text.John and Asher ride solo...together. ...
VINELAND EP 5: It's The Libidinal Economy, Stupid! (W/Subliminal Jihad)
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
THIS WEEK: John and Asher reads through Chapters 10-12 of Vineland, which takes them back in their shared semester at the College of the Surf (John wa...
VINELAND EP 4: Keeping it DL (w/Ana Gavrilovska)
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week: John and Asher continue reading through and chatting about Vineland, a journey that takes us from California to Ohio to Japan and back agai...
VINELAND EP 3: Whether Underground (w/Eleanor Stein)
09 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
And we're back! With VINELAND, chapters 6-8.John and Asher discuss inter-generational negation, luddites, the computerized future, communitarian happe...
VINELAND EP 2: What Was The Hippie? (w/Jesse Jarnow)
02 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We begin our read-through of Thomas Pynchon's Vineland in earnest, covering Chapters 1-5.John and Asher discuss the amateurishness of opening a no...
VINELAND EP 1: Snitches Get Stitches (w/ Noah Kulwin)
25 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We missed "Pynchon Summer." But just barely! Cut us some slack, eh?In any event, we are back with our read-through of Thomas Pynchon's Vineland (1990)...
Mailbag Time (Listener Qs, A'd)
11 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We open the ol' mailbag, which is really more of google voicemail inbox, to answer some listener Q&As. At long last! We accidentally deleted o...
APPENDIX - Is GRAVITY'S RAINBOW an autobiography? (W/ Albert Rolls)
20 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this extra, bonus "appendix" episode, Asher lays out his theory of Gravity's Rainbow, as a coded biography of its author, Thomas Pync...
EP 13 - The Final Delta T (W/Gregory Marks)
30 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Covering Part 4: 12...The End. We take an elevator ride to the skies, reflect on "anarcho-sadism," catch up with some of our old pals in Der...
BONUS - Weissman's Tarot (W/ Answers In Tarot)
23 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week: before we head into the final stretch of Gravity's Rainbow, we stop to talk tarot and esotericism with Answers In Tarot, also known as ...
EP 12 - Raketen Stadt Of Mind (W/ Jeffrey Severs)
16 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Covering Part 4: Chapters 7-11. We follow the Counterforce to a surprise dinner, reflect on The World, learn of Weissman's new frontier, and final...
EP 11 - Shine On, You Crazy Sentient Lightbulb (W/ The Computerized Ghost of Harold Bloom)
09 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Covering Part 4: Chapters 1-6. We enter the fourth--and final!--part of the novel. We discuss the formation of the "Counterforce," Slothrop&...
EP 10 - Do You Believe In Magic? (W/ Matt Christman)
02 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Covering Part 3: Chapters 24-32. We exit THE ZONE. Many BIG THINGS are revealed about Slothrop's purpose, his family history, and just what the HE...
EP 9: The Banana Imperium (W/Noah Kulwin)
19 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Covering Part 3: Chapters 13-23. Slothrop goes on a boat, and maybe has sex with a child. Then he goes on another boat. And then back to the same boat...
EP 8: Better Living Through Chemistry (W/Hamilton Morris)
12 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Covering Part 3: Chapters 6-12. Slothrop is reborn as "Rocketman," steals some hash, and meets Mickey Rooney, The John E. Badass appears, an...
EP 7: The Genocidal Gaze (W/Elizabeth Baer)
05 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Covering Part 3: Chapters 1-5. Our read-through of Gravity's Rainbow continues as we enter THE ZONE. The War--at least in Europe--is over. But the...
BONUS - Interview with Prüfstand VII director Robert Bramkamp
28 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Hallo Leute! Interrupting the regular flow with this bonus interview with German writer/director Robert Bramkamp, whose film Prüfstand VII uses Gravi...
EP 6: Im(i)polex, Gee (W/Alex Ross Perry)
21 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Slow Learners continues! This episode covers the entire second section of Gravity's Rainbow, in which Tyrone Slothrop emerges as our clear hero, o...
EP 5: Use Your Allusion (W/Prof. David Cowart)
14 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We wrap the first part of Gravity's Rainbow (chapters 18-21), which sees Pointsman getting lucky, Slothrop shipped off to the Riviera, and Roger a...
EP 4: Systems, Scandals, and Literary Hoaxes (w/Alex Shephard)
07 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We continue our journey "Beyond the Zero," covering Gravity's Rainbow, Part 1, Chapters 14-17. And: Alex Shephard (The New Republic) joi...
EP 3: Military Mind Control (W/Stephen Kinzer)
31 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We get further into the weeds, covering Gravity's Rainbow, Part 1, Chapters 10-13. We're joined by Stephen Kinzer, author of the Sidney Gottli...
EP 2: A Screaming Comes Across The Sky (W/Dr. Jordan Bimm)
24 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The season begins in earnest with this recap and discussion of Gravity's Rainbow, Part 1: Chapters 1-9. We chat with Dr. Jordan Bimm, a historian ...
EP 1: Who is Thomas Pynchon, And Why Are We Talking About His Book?
17 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Hallo Leute! In this, intro episode of Slow Learners, hosts Asher Dark and John Semley lay out their ambition plan, or "plot": to read throu...