Thomas Pynchon, “The Small Rain”

The army guys are called in to collect corpses after the hurricane.

(from Slow Learner: Early Stories)

I had a hard time following this one. The themes were clear and the sentences were smart and unmuddied. But between games of kub, right draw and wise or otherwises, I found myself picking this story up so sporadically as to make a clear vision of the plot improbable. But I did see some of that youthful eh Pynchon alluded to in his intro. And since this was the first story in the collection, I believe it was his intention to put his worst foot forward. I’ve made him out to be a self-defeating jackass. How wrong am I?

I read this in the Nethers.