Thomas Pynchon

by Joseph W. Slade

This pioneering work, first published in 1974, is still regarded as the best introduction to the fiction of America's premier novelist. Six chapters explore the themes of Pynchon's short fiction, V., The Crying of Lot 49, and Gravity's Rainbow, while a section added especially for this edition extends the assessment of the author's stature and impact on modern literature. The book is particularly helpful to those readers interested in Pynchon's encyclopedic approach to writing, since Slade clearly identifies the cultural, technological, and scientific elements woven into the novels.

Genres: Criticism

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Nathan Jerpe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's a list of works recommended in the introduction -

Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness
T. S. Eliot - The Waste Land
Henry Adams - The Education of Henry Adams
Max Weber - The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Machiavelli - The Prince
Robert Graves - The White Goddess
Goethe - Faust
Norbert Wiener - The Human Use of Human Beings
Rilke - Duino Elegies, Sonnets to Orpheus
Wagner - Tannhauser, Tristan & Isolde, the Ring operas
Alfred North Whitehead - Process and Reality

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slade's Thomas Pynchon is an early critical work commenting on Pynchon's themes and on his use of science and humor in his novels (V., The Crying of Lot 49 and Gravity’s Rainbow). Like Robert D. Newman's Understanding Thomas Pynchon, this is an introduction to readers new to Pynchon, rather than something written for those already familiar with his work who are seeking critical analysis and theories about approaches to the texts (that is not to warn off the latter sort of reader, though: I have read more than a few critical works on Pynchon, and I found a lot of useful information in Slade's book that I have not seen anywhere else).

[Jeff Keehr · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading Gravity's Rainbow, I was desperate to find some criticism to help me assimilate the experience. This was one of the only books on Pynchon available at that time, which was probably in 1976. It turned out to be a very influential book for me because Slade drew my attention to lots of other authors and works.