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Thomas Pynchon

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Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. (born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his complex, labyrinthine, but critically-acclaimed work.

Biography

Thomas Pynchon was born in Glen Cove, Long Island, New York to Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Sr. and Katherine Frances Bennett Pynchon.

Pynchon graduated from Oyster Bay High School in 1953. He attended the Engineering Physics division at Cornell University, but left at the end of his second year to join the US Navy. He returned to Cornell in 1957 to pursue a degree in English. His first short story, A Small Rain, was published in the Cornell Writer in May, 1959. He received his BA in June, 1959.

After graduation he began work on his first novel. During this time, from February 1960 to September 1962, he worked as an engineering aide at Boeing, writing technical documents for the Bomarc Service Information Unit and the Field Support Unit for the Minuteman missile project, both nuclear missile projects. V. was published in 1963 and won a William Faulkner Foundation Award for best first novel of the year.

Pynchon's second novel, The Crying of Lot 49, is short, witty and relatively accessible—but, even so, the plot is too elaborate and absurd to fit into a brief summary.

His most famous novel is his third, Gravity's Rainbow, published in 1973 to widespread critical acclaim and winning the 1974 National Book award. Set in Europe at the end of the Second World War, Gravity's Rainbow combined and elaborated on many of the themes of his earlier work, including paranoia, conspiracy, and entropy. It is an incredibly dense and allusive novel that requires considerable erudition simply to follow the plot, something that many of the characters seem to have difficulty with. Knowledges of psychology, mathematics and German literature all help.

Around this time, Pynchon became notorious for his avoidance of public view, and many rumors circulated about his identity. Only a few photos of him are known to exist. It has been said, somewhat tongue-in-cheekily, that there are more and clearer photos of Bigfoot than of Pynchon.

Shortly before the publication of Mason & Dixon in 1997, he was tracked down and filmed by CNN. Angered by this invasion of his privacy, he agreed to give CNN an interview in exchange for not revealing his photographs. When asked about his reclusive nature, he replied, "My belief is that 'recluse' is a code word generated by journalists... meaning, 'doesn't like to talk to reporters.'"

Pynchon received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1989.

Literary critic Harold Bloom has named him as one of the four major American novelists of his time, along with Don DeLillo, Philip Roth, and Cormac McCarthy.

Pynchon lives in Manhattan, New York City with his wife and agent, Melanie Jackson, and their son, Jackson Pynchon.

Rumors

It has been suggested that Pynchon and one Wanda Tinasky are the same person. Several letters authored under the name Wanda Tinasky in the late 1980s were published in the Anderson Valley Advertiser in Anderson Valley, California. The style and content of these letters closely resemble Pynchon's, and Pynchon's Vineland, which was written at that time, also takes place in Anderson Valley. Pynchon may have been in the area, conducting research. A collection of these letters has been printed as a paperback book entitled The Letters of Wanda Tinasky; however, Pynchon himself denies having written the letters.

It has been rumored that Pynchon's next book will be about the life and love stories of Sofia Kovalevskaya, whom he allegedly studied in Germany. The former German minister of culture has claimed that he assisted Pynchon in his research. It has been noted that Kovalevsky's nom de plume "Tanya Raevsky" is suspiciously similar to "Wanda Tinasky".

His reclusive nature led to some suspicions that "Thomas Pynchon" was actually a pen name of J.D. Salinger, another notoriously reclusive author. There is however no evidence whatsoever to support this rumour.

Trivia

Thomas Pynchon made an appearance (of sorts) on an episode of The Simpsons, "Diatribe of a Mad Housewife". He played himself, with a paper bag over his head: "Hey, over here, have your picture taken with a reclusive author! Today only, we'll throw in a free autograph. But, wait! There’s more!"

(The paper bag is a reference to an earlier Simpsons episode, "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes". In this episode, Homer Simpson starts a website where he is shown wearing a bag marked with a question mark over his head. He uncovers a complex global conspiracy, earns a Pulitzer Prize and is captured by the conspirators. He is imprisoned on an island remarkably reminiscent of the "Village" portrayed in the television series The Prisoner. Given that this episode's title is in fact a punning reference to the film The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, the density of interlinking allusions becomes similar to that in Pynchon's own works.)

He is known to be a fan of Roky Erickson.

Works

Apart from these fictional works, Pynchon has also written a number of essays dealing with the most diverse subjects, from his first known published essay names Togetherness (about missile security) in Aerospace Safety, 1960, to numerous articles in New York Times Book Review and The New York Review of Books in later years. He has also written numerous blurbs for books and records he likes.

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