"Shadow Ticket" Reading Group

media release: Do you enjoy reading challenging fiction?

Join a guided exploration of Thomas Pynchon’s newly released novel Shadow Ticket, led by Cassandra Nelson, a Lumen Affiliate Fellow and scholar of American literature. Set in Wisconsin in 1926, Shadow Ticket follows private eye Hicks McTaggart from Milwaukee to Budapest as he sets off in search of a missing cheese heiress.

Along the way, Hicks encounters colorful characters in police precincts and Prohibition-era speakeasies, while swirling economic, ethnic, and political tensions remind readers that the Great Depression and Second World War II are just around the corner.

As a member of the reading group, you’ll receive a concise, practical introduction to Pynchon and postmodern novels. Cassandra hopes you’ll appreciate Shadow Ticket’s affectionate nods to all things quintessentially Wisconsin—beer, cheese, bowling—while also engaging deeply with the book’s larger themes of grace and the battle for America’s soul. And who knows—you may even walk away with the confidence to tackle more works by America’s greatest novelists.

This group will meet at Upper House from 12:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. on the following dates:

· Monday, January 26

· Monday, February 2

· Monday, February 9

· Monday, February 16

Cassandra Nelson is an Affiliate Fellow in Literature at the Lumen Center and an Associate Fellow at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. She writes about faith, fiction, technology, and culture, and previously taught literature and composition at the United States Military Academy.