Thomas Pynchon

Thomas Pynchon, born in 1937, American novelist, known for his experimental writing techniques that involve extremely complicated plots and themes. His most famous novel, Gravity’s Rainbow (1973), won the National Book Award.

Pynchon was born on Long Island, New York. He studied engineering at Cornell University, left to serve in the United States Navy, and returned to complete a degree in English in 1958. He worked in the aircraft industry for two years before publishing his first novel, V., in 1963. His other novels include The Crying of Lot 49 (1966), Vineland (1990), Mason & Dixon (1997), and Against the Day (2006).

Pynchon’s books generally portray a vast network made up of the industrial, military, mass-communication, and entertainment systems that developed during World War II (1939-1945). He traces the development of this network from the European roots of free enterprise, throughout the founding of the United States, to modern times. Mason & Dixon is his only work not to be set in the 20th century; it focuses on the work and friendship of 18th-century British surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon as they travel across pre-Revolutionary America.

Pynchon’s novels are broad in scope and use scientific theories, historical facts, and details of popular culture with great accuracy. He leads readers through a fantasia of actual and imagined events, in which mystery, rather than solution, is elevated. The reader must unscramble the interwoven and often incomplete plots, through which large casts of characters drift. Pynchon uses a variety of narrative techniques, including satire, humor, and suspense, to paint a dark, but not hopeless, picture of society.

Much of Pynchon’s personal life remains a mystery. He has lived in seclusion for many years, and his academic and military records have been lost.