Abstract

Richard Darabaner suggests that the title of Pynchon's short story "The Small fain" may have been derived from a passage in Deuteronomy. He goes on to argue that the atmosphere of Pynchon's story is appropriate to the Old Testament reference. Indeed it is, though I would like to suggest that the story echoes the Old Testament, not directly, but indirectly through the works of Ernest Hemingway and T. S. Eliot. Pynchon himself admits to having made a conscious effort to echo A Farewell to Arms and The Waste Land in his story, and both of those works have atmospheres that can be fruitfully glossed by reference to the Old Testament, particularly to Ecclesiastes. Moreover, rain is extremely significant in both of those works, as pynchon's story explicitly remarks.

How to Cite:

Booker, M. K., (1988) “A Probable Source for the Title of "The Small Rain"”, Pynchon Notes , 75-77. doi: https://doi.org/10.16995/pn.318