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Been Down So Long it Looks Like Up to Me (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics)
 
 
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Been Down So Long it Looks Like Up to Me (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics) (Paperback)

by Richard Farina (Author), Thomas Pynchon (Author) "Young Gnossos Pappadopoulis, furry Pooh Bear, keeper of the flame, voyaged back from the asphalt seas of the great wasted land: oh highways U.S. 40..." (more)
4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
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  • This item: Been Down So Long it Looks Like Up to Me (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics) by Richard Farina

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Product details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Classics; New Ed edition (1 Dec 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0140189300
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140189308
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 14.2 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 77,660 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #10 in  Books > Fiction > Cult Authors > Pynchon, Thomas

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Product Description

Product Description
Fariña evokes the Sixties as precisely, wittily, and poignantly as F. Scott Fitzgerald captured the Jazz Age. The hero, Gnossus Pappadopoulis, weaves his way through the psychedelic landscape, encountering—among other things—mescaline, women, art, gluttony, falsehood, science, prayer, and, occasionally, truth.

About the Author
Richard Fariña was killed in a motorcycle accident in Carmel, California, on April 30, 1966—two days after the publication of Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me. A posthumous collection of his writings, Long Time Coming and a Long Time Gone, was published in 1969. Thomas Pynchon was born in Glen Cove, New York, in 1937. He is the author of The Crying of Lot 49, V., Vineland, Slow Learner, and Mason & Dixon.
Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
Young Gnossos Pappadopoulis, furry Pooh Bear, keeper of the flame, voyaged back from the asphalt seas of the great wasted land: oh highways U.S. 40 and unyielding 66, I am home to the glacier-gnawed gorges, the fingers of lakes, the golden girls of Westchester and Shaker Heights. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews
5 star:
 (8)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful snapshot of "cool" in the early 60's., 24 Jun 1997
By A Customer
I first read this book when it was published and wore out two paperback cpoies. I've reread it in the last 5 years and found the trip worthwhile. Gnossos is poised between beat and hippy and a perfect representation of cool in the early 60's. The book is worth reading, tho parts of it (acquaintance rape, sexism, bouts of boorish behavior) have passed out of the bounds of current acceptance. I recommend it as a small flower, born of a certain time and place that is forever passed. It makes you miss Richard Farina all the more.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars enduring '60's classic, 28 Oct 1998
By A Customer
Richard Farina came and went in such a brief period,but will be forever memorialized with the writing of this book.Another body of work of Farina's,A long time comming,a long time gone" unfortunately has been all but lost,a compliation of his short stories and poetry including some poems put to music and performed with his wife Mimi(sister of Joan Baez)can be found on the Vanguard label. Richard apitomized the rebelliouswandering minstrels of the '60's,his character Gnossos Papadoupulis,was a compliation of a little of all of us who wandered the '60's,no responsibilities and the war nipping at his heels,managed a student deferrment(as most of us did)who's most important on his list of life,was the next good time.Sit back,read,and remember where we came from.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Stick with it., 10 Aug 2001
By A Customer
This really is a book of two halves, and I must confess to being bored by the end of Part 1 where it comes across as Animal House meets the Beat Generation. The bawdiness becomes tiresome and the language has dated so that one can not read lines such as "Dig it baby" without thinking of Austin Powers. For all that I certainly recommend sticking with it as it improves greatly in the second half as it takes on a darker tone, sort of the hangover after the party. It is also refreshing to have a paradoxical hero whose actions you do not necassarily approve of.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars If you only get to read one book in your life...
this book is it. I first came across it in 1970 and have read my increasingly battered copy every 5 years or so since. It never dates. Read more
Published on 12 May 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars Top down for windy adventure.
The best book I've ever read. 20 times if you want to get it all. it's truly a 3-D novel. You can go to the book in times of need, like you would The Prophet.
Published on 11 Aug 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars "where you're going is where you've never been"
I could write a raving review of this book and never finish pointing out all its highest qualities. I read it first when I found it in a pile of my dad's old college texts. Read more
Published on 1 Jun 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Get Me Started!...
Beyond-a-Bible, a pure Cinematic shoutdance of joy & freshness that I've read 10 times if I've read it once... Read more
Published on 10 May 1999

3.0 out of 5 stars Old Memories From One of His Characters
What a gas! That "It Been Down So Long" is back in print... It brings back a lot of old memories. Read more
Published on 25 Jan 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars beautiful, touching-my favorite book
I am probably the only person under 40 who's ever heard of this book, let alone Richard Farina, but it is still my all time favoite book. Read more
Published on 24 Jan 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars this was made into a movie and never released. Why?
I read this book while in the Army in 1968 and loved it. Sometime in 71' or 72' I saw a sneak preview of a film of the book in Denver. As far as I know it was never released. Read more
Published on 22 Nov 1998

5.0 out of 5 stars a wild ride through the hundred acre wood
ah, the 60s. didn't we all have Immunity? don't college students still think that? an expansive novel, stunning in its velocity, it reads like a trip. Gnossos P. Read more
Published on 13 April 1998

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