The Cambridge Companion to Thomas Pynchon (Cambridge Companions to Literature)

Cambridge University Press, 12/15/2011
EAN 9780521769747, ISBN10: 0521769744

Hardcover, 212 pages, 23.5 x 15.5 x 1.5 cm
Language: English

The most celebrated American novelist of the past half-century, an indispensable figure of postmodernism worldwide, Thomas Pynchon notoriously challenges his readers. This Companion provides tools for meeting that challenge. Comprehensive, accessible, lively, up-to-date and reliable, it approaches Pynchon's fiction from various angles, calling on the expertise of an international roster of scholars at the cutting edge of Pynchon studies. Part I covers Pynchon's fiction novel-by-novel from the 1960s to the present, including such indisputable classics as The Crying of Lot 49 and Gravity's Rainbow. Part II zooms out to give a bird's-eye-view of Pynchon's novelistic practice across his entire career. Part III surveys major topics of Pynchon's fiction: history, politics, alterity ('otherness') and science and technology. Designed for students, scholars and fans alike, the Companion begins with a biography of the elusive author and ends with a coda on how to read Pynchon and a bibliography for further reading.

Introduction Inger H. Dalsgaard, Luc Herman and Brian McHale
Biographical note John M. Krafft
Part I. Canon
1. Early Pynchon Luc Herman
2. The Crying of Lot 49 and other California novels Thomas Hill Schaub
3. Gravity's Rainbow Steven Weisenburger
4. Mason and Dixon Kathryn Hume
5. Against the Day Bernard Duyfhuizen
Part II. Poetics
6. Pynchon in literary history David Cowart
7. Pynchon's postmodernism Brian McHale
8. Pynchon's intertexts David Seed
Part III. Issues
9. History Amy J. Elias
10. Politics Jeff Baker
11. Alterity Deborah Madsen
12. Science and technology Inger H. Dalsgaard
Coda
how to read Pynchon Hanjo Berressem.