Thomas Pynchon: The Art of Allusion

by David Cowart

This fresh examination of Pynchon’s use of painting, film, music, and literature shows that his true art lies in humanis­tic allusions that stress the possibility of spiritually separating oneself from the modern wasteland. Cowart disagrees with critics who see Pynchon as a scientist writing about entropy, although Pynchon does illus­trate the nihilistic world for which he is famous in allusions to painting and film, both of which mask a Void. But more important, these allusions call into question what is real and what is not. Through musical and literary allu­sions Pynchon suggests the speculative world, the world of unrealized possibil­ity. Music hints at the dimensions of ex­perience people miss because of the nar­row range of experiences to which they are attuned. Literary allusions support and extend the almost mystical sense created by musical allusions, thus sug­gesting that in Pynchon’s view, human consciousness need not be trapped by entropic drift.

154 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1980