Book contents
- Thomas Pynchon in Context
- Thomas Pynchon in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Chronology
- Introduction
- Part I Times and Places
- Chapter 1 Biography
- Chapter 2 Letters and Juvenilia
- Chapter 3 Nonfiction
- Chapter 4 East Coast
- Chapter 5 West Coast
- Chapter 6 Europe and Asia
- Chapter 7 Africa and Latin America
- Chapter 8 Geographies and Mapping
- Chapter 9 The Eighteenth Century
- Chapter 10 The Nineteenth Century
- Chapter 11 The Twentieth Century
- Chapter 12 The Twenty-First Century
- Chapter 13 History and Metahistory
- Part II Culture, Politics, and Society
- Part III Approaches and Readings
- Further Reading
- Index
Chapter 1 - Biography
from Part I - Times and Places
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 May 2019
- Thomas Pynchon in Context
- Thomas Pynchon in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Chronology
- Introduction
- Part I Times and Places
- Chapter 1 Biography
- Chapter 2 Letters and Juvenilia
- Chapter 3 Nonfiction
- Chapter 4 East Coast
- Chapter 5 West Coast
- Chapter 6 Europe and Asia
- Chapter 7 Africa and Latin America
- Chapter 8 Geographies and Mapping
- Chapter 9 The Eighteenth Century
- Chapter 10 The Nineteenth Century
- Chapter 11 The Twentieth Century
- Chapter 12 The Twenty-First Century
- Chapter 13 History and Metahistory
- Part II Culture, Politics, and Society
- Part III Approaches and Readings
- Further Reading
- Index
Summary
Thomas Pynchon has so carefully guarded his privacy that relatively little is known for certain about his personal life. He evidently prefers to have readers focus on his fiction rather than on himself. His principled determination to avoid personal publicity has led to his routinely, but inaccurately, being described as a recluse, has sparked some bizarre rumors – that he was J. D. Salinger, or the Unabomber – and has provoked some spiteful and self-serving revelations. After defying the norms of celebrity culture for decades, Pynchon does seem to have let down his guard a bit: In 2004 he mocked his own reputation as a “reclusive author” by voicing a caricature of himself with a brown paper bag over his head in two episodes of The Simpsons, and in 2009 he narrated a promotional video for his novel Inherent Vice.
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- Thomas Pynchon in Context , pp. 7 - 14Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019
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