Table Of ContentTHOMAS PYNCHON IN CONTEXT
Thomas Pynchon in Context enables students, scholars, and other
readerstoengageeffectivelywiththeglobalscopeandprolificimagi-
nationofPynchon’swork,providingthemostup-to-dateandauthor-
itative scholarly analyses of his challenging and canonical writing.
This book is divided into three sections. The first, “Times and
Places,” sets out the history and geographical contexts both for the
settingofPynchon’snovelsandhisownlife.Thesecond,“Culture,
Politics, and Society,” examines twenty important and recurring
themes that most clearly define Pynchon’s writing – ranging from
ideas in philosophy and the sciences to humor and pop culture.
Thefinalsection,“ApproachesandReadings,” outlinesandassesses
waystoreadandunderstandPynchon.Consistingofforty-fouressays
writtenbysomeoftheworld’sleadingscholars,thisvolumeoutlines
the most important contexts for understanding Pynchon’s writing
andhelpsreadersinterpretandreferencehisliterarywork.
inger h. dalsgaard isAssociateProfessorinAmericanStudiesat
the DepartmentofEnglish, Aarhus University.She is the author of
numerousessaysandarticlesonThomasPynchonandtheco-editor,
withLucHermanandBrianMcHale,ofTheCambridgeCompanion
toThomasPynchon(Cambridge,2012).
THOMAS PYNCHON
IN CONTEXT
edited by
INGER H. DALSGAARD
AarhusUniversity
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Contents
ListofContributors pageix
ListofAbbreviations xviii
ChronologybyJohnM.Krafft xix
Introduction 1
IngerH.Dalsgaard
part i times and places 5
1 Biography 7
JohnM.Krafft
2 LettersandJuvenilia 15
AlbertRolls
3 Nonfiction 23
KatieMuth
4 EastCoast 31
ChristopherLeise
5 WestCoast 39
ScottMcClintockandJohnMiller
6 EuropeandAsia 47
J.PaulNarkunas
7 AfricaandLatinAmerica 57
MichaelHarris
8 GeographiesandMapping 67
SaschaPöhlmann
9 TheEighteenthCentury 74
ElizabethJaneWallHinds
v
vi Contents
10 TheNineteenthCentury 82
PaoloSimonetti
11 TheTwentiethCentury 89
StevenWeisenburger
12 TheTwenty-FirstCentury 97
CeliaWallhead
13 HistoryandMetahistory 104
DavidCowart
part ii culture, politics, and society 113
14 Family 115
MarkRohland
15 SexandGender 122
AliChetwyndandGeorgiosMaragos
16 Humor 130
DougHaynes
17 PopularCulture 138
EricSandberg
18 MusicandSound 146
JustinSt.Clair
19 FilmandTelevision 154
JohnDugdale
20 RealEstateandtheInternet 162
IngerH.Dalsgaard
21 PoliticsandCounterculture 172
JoannaFreer
22 DrugsandHippies 180
UmbertoRossi
23 EcologyandtheEnvironment 187
ChristopherK.Coffman
24 CapitalismandClass 195
JeffreySevers
Contents vii
25 WarandPower 203
DaleCarter
26 ConspiracyandParanoia 211
SamuelChaseCoale
27 TerrorandAnarchy 217
JamesGourley
28 ScienceandTechnology 225
GillesChamerois
29 Mathematics 233
NinaEngelhardt
30 TimeandRelativity 239
SimondeBourcier
31 Philosophy 247
MartinPaulEve
32 ReligionandSpirituality 254
RichardMoss
33 DeathandAfterlife 262
TiinaKäkelä
part iii approaches and readings 271
34 Narratology 273
LucHerman
35 Genre 281
ZofiaKolbuszewska
36 Postmodernism 289
BrianMcHale
37 Ambiguity 298
DeborahL.Madsen
38 Realities 307
KathrynHume
39 MaterialReadings 315
ToreRyeAndersen
viii Contents
40 DigitalReadings 323
JosephTabbi
41 InternetResources 332
MichelRyckxandTimWare
42 Fandom 341
DavidKipen
43 BookReviewsandReception 346
DouglasKeesey
44 CriticalLiteratureReview 354
HanjoBerressem
FurtherReading 361
PrimaryBibliography 361
Novels 361
ShortFiction 361
Nonfiction 362
Letters 362
SecondaryBibliography 364
Index 381
Contributors
tore rye andersen isanAssociateProfessorofComparativeLiterature
at Aarhus University, Director of the Center for Literature Between
Media,andeditoroftheliteraryjournalPassage.HeistheauthorofDen
nye amerikanske roman/The New American Novel (2011), and he has
published anumber ofarticlesonAmericanandBritish fictionandon
thematerialityofliteratureinjournalssuchasCritique,EnglishStudies,
OrbisLitterarum,andConvergence.
hanjo berressem teaches American Literature at the University of
Cologne. He is author of Pynchon’s Poetics: Interfacing Theory and Text
(1992) and Lines of Desire: Reading Gombrowicz’s Fiction with Lacan
(1999),andco-editorofDeleuzianEvents:Writing|History(2009)andSite-
Specific: From Aachen to Zwölfkinder – Pynchon|Germany (2008). His
book Eigenvalue: On the Gradual Contraction of Media in Movement /
ContemplatingMediainArt[Sound|Image|Sense]waspublishedin2018.
dale carter isAssociateProfessorofAmericanStudiesandDirectorof
the American Studies Center, Aarhus University, Denmark. He is
author and editor of a number of books dealing with aspects of twen-
tieth-century American history, society, and culture, including
The Final Frontier: The Rise and Fall of the American Rocket State
(1988), which relates the US manned space program to Pynchon’s
Gravity’sRainbow.
gilles chamerois is an associate professor at the University of Brest,
France.Hehaseditedorco-editedtwocollectionsofessaysonPynchon
and published several articles on Pynchon and science, their subjects
rangingfromanachronisticreferencestomodern-dayscienceinMason
&DixontoaeronauticsandthefigureofNikolaTeslainAgainsttheDay.
He has also published on film and has co-written two books on
adaptation.
ix
x ListofContributors
ali chetwynd is Assistant Professor and Chair of English at the
American University of Iraq, Sulaimani. He works on antimimetic
fiction’s constructive argumentative capacities, and has published on
Pynchon, William Gaddis, Ben Jonson, and the philosophical antece-
dentsofUSpostmodernism.WithGeorgiosMaragosandJoannaFreer
heedited ThomasPynchon,Sex,andGender(2018),andheco-editsthe
bookreviewsforOrbit:AJournalofAmericanLiterature.
samuel chase coale teaches American Literature and Culture at
Wheaton College in Massachusetts. His recent books include
The Entanglements of Nathaniel Hawthorne (2011) and Quirks of the
Quantum: Postmodernism and Contemporary American Fiction (2012).
HehasrecentlylecturedinJapan,Jordan,andLebanon.
christopher k. coffman isaSeniorLecturerinHumanitiesatBoston
University. He is the author of Rewriting Early America: The Prenational
PastinPostmodernLiterature(2019)andco-editorofWilliamT.Vollmann:
ACriticalCompanion(2015)andFramingFilms:CriticalPerspectivesonFilm
History(2009).AmonghisotherpublicationsarechaptersinMcClintock
and Miller’s Pynchon’s California (2014) and Severs and Leise’s Pynchon’s
AgainsttheDay:ACorruptedPilgrim’sGuide(2011).
david cowart,LouiseFryScudderProfessorEmeritusattheUniversity
ofSouthCarolina,istheauthorofThomasPynchon:TheArtofAllusion
(1980) and Thomas Pynchon and the Dark Passages of History (2015), as
wellasotherbooksoncontemporaryliterature.
ingerh.dalsgaardisAssociateProfessorofAmericanStudiesatAarhus
University,Denmark.SheistheeditorofThomasPynchoninContext,the
co-editor ofTheCambridgeCompanion toThomas Pynchon(Cambridge
UniversityPress,2012),andtheauthorofnumerousessaysonPynchon.
simondebourcieristheauthorofPynchonandRelativity:NarrativeTime
in Thomas Pynchon’s Later Novels, as well as articles on Pynchon, David
FosterWallace,andNealStephenson.HehasdegreesfromtheUniversityof
Cambridge,AngliaRuskinUniversity,andtheUniversityofEastAnglia.
john dugdale is the author of Thomas Pynchon: Allusive Parables of
Power (1990). He writes about books and the media for the Guardian
andtheSundayTimes.
nina engelhardt istheauthorofModernism,FictionandMathematics
(2018)andseveralessaysonmathematicsandscienceinPynchon’swork.
