Thomas Pynchon (nonfiction)

Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. (/ˈpɪnˌtʃɒn/, commonly /ˈpɪntʃən/; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist. A MacArthur Fellow, he is noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and nonfiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, genres and themes, including history, music, science, and mathematics. For Gravity's Rainbow Pynchon won the 1974 U.S. National Book Award for Fiction.

Commentary

Charles Hollander observes:

The publishers of Slow Learner (1984) characterize Pynchon readers as "decoders" on the book jacket flap, and, indeed, to read Pynchon as if he were writing in code has become standard practice. Readers are forced to cryptanalyze to arrive at his beliefs. A rule of thumb in cryptography holds that the more unexpected a message is, the more information it contains; a series of repetitive messages conveys less information than a series of messages that differ from one another. It follows that the more often a thing is mentioned, the less important it is; the less often, the more important. This implies a procedure the reverse of that involved in reading ordinary, non–encoded novels. The more space conventional novelists allot to something, presumably, the more important it is. On political issues Pynchon follows rules of cryptanalysis, never mentioning the most important thing. It is hinted at, suggested, skirted ‘round, alluded to, dealt with in books by other authors mentioned or alluded to in Pynchon’s text. A literary trail is established with coded signposts pointing all along the way, but it is never—never— flatly named. It is "the ultimate Plot Which Has No Name," "The Big One, the century’s master cabal" (V.), and "Those Who Know, know" (Gravity’s Rainbow). In his earliest short stories Pynchon creates an absence of overt political thought or commentary, all the while walking on the eggshells of politicized allusions—a trick he will use for the next thirty years. In so doing he creates the presence of an absence, and nothing alerts critical readers more. In Vineland, Pynchon describes everyone’s ignorance of Brock Vond’s whereabouts as "a kind of reverse presence."

External links

• Thomas Pynchon @ Wikipedia