A collection of the five stories that launched the outstanding American novelist's career includes an introductory essay in which he sketches the milieu in which he began writing. From the Noiseless Chatter blog): "In 1984, eleven years after Gravity’s Rainbow, Pynchon finally published something: a collection of other things he had already published. Slow Learner isn’t that great; as a reading experience, you’d be hard pressed to do much worse. As a slow study of a young artist becoming a legendary one, though, it’s unparalleled.By this point Pynchon had only released three novels, but his reluctance to speak about himself, make public appearances, provide interviews, or do anything else that established writers were supposed to do meant that a huge part of Slow Learner‘s value came from the brief introduction Pynchon provided [analyzing his work]. Spotlighting it here meant that people wouldn’t miss its inclusion, and, certainly, it still stands as the book’s highlight."