A Tentative Study of Pynchon and His Works

王 健 王安民

1 Introduction

Thomas Pynchon is a unique as well as controversial contemporary American writer, noted for his dense and complex works of fiction. Hailing from Long Island, Pynchon spent two years in the United States Navy and earned a degree of English from Cornell University. After publishing several short stories in late 1950s and early 1960s, he began composing the novels for which he is well-known today: V.(1963), The Crying of Lot 49 (1966), Gravity's Rainbow (1973), Vineland (1990), Mason & Dixon (1997), and Against the Day (2006).

From 1963 till now, Pynchon has written 6 novels. He cant be called a prolific writer. However, almost each of his novels arouses tremendous comments and arguments. His mysterious life and “unreadable” works construct a labyrinth, where he, a lonely hermit, could do his meditation and reflection.

As one of the leading figures of postmodernist writers, Pynchon has won lots of prestigious awards. In 1963 V. was awarded a “William Faulkner Foundation” award for best first novel of the year. He is also the winner of the 1973 National Book Award for Gravity Rainbow, a postmodern epic. His works symbolize the typical features of the postmodern literary writings. Compared with many other contemporary writers, Pynchon has his own characteristics.“He talks through his work, accomplishes his writing through the disappearance of himself and the interpretation of readers” (Ye, 2003: 52).

Thomas Pynchon is regarded as one of the most significant American postmodern and Black Humor masters. Among the works published, V. is universally regarded as one of his masterpieces. Though vague in language and complicated in structure, the novel is universally acclaimed to be one of the representative works in the literary school of Postmodernism. Both his fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, styles and themes, including (but not limited to) the fields of history, science and mathematics. Pynchon is also known for his avoidance of publicity: very few photographs of him have ever been published, and rumors about his residence and identity have been circulating since the 1960s.

Pynchons works are full of investigations and digressions. Which probe into the realms of ideology, sexuality, psychology, sociology, mathematics, science, technology, etc. He has a unique point of view towards this world and humanity, so do his works. Whenever his name or works are mentioned, they become synonymous with “entropy”,“lousy” and “steam punk”. Pynchon mixes and explores the scientific, theological, and socio-cultural foundations of the Age of Reason whilst also depicting the relationship between actual historical figures and fictional characters in intricate detail. Many of his works derive much from Pynchons mathematical and technical background: V. Gravity's Rainbow and Mason & Dixon, are all shadowed in his special background of rich technical knowledge. These works could be regarded as the genre of historiographic metafiction.

Pynchons style is totally anti-conventional. Thats why his works are more controversial than others. After V.s publication, the novel has drawn more negative criticism than appreciative applause. On the one hand, the novels eccentric characters, frenzied actions, frequent digressions, and imposing lengths have led critic James Wood to classify Pynchons work as “hysterical realism”. In 1973, the Pulizer Advisory Board have labeled Pynchon and his works as “unreadable”, “turgid”, “overwritten” and “obscene” (Newman,1986: 3). Some critics negate the notion that Pynchon sympathize his “whole-sick crew” characters. But on the other hand, there are also favorable views. Mendelson (1978: 15) holds that “[Pynchon] is the greatest living writer in the English-speaking world”, because Pynchon is “a self-effacing prophet of doom, he is the recording conscience of our demise as a culture and the voice of salvational alternatives” (Newman, 1986: 11).

2 Related Studies concerning Pynchons Works, including V.

Thomas Pynchon, as a writer, is destined to be confronted with literary conventions and numerous pre-texts. His works are hence in a process through which some certain relationships with these literary conventions and pre-texts are naturally and inevitably built up. In other words, there exists a dialogue between his works and literary conventions. On one hand, he cant accomplish his writing without being influenced by the existent literary conventions or alluding to other pre-texts. However, meanwhile, each of his novels could be regarded as a weapon to wage a campaign against these conventions. His unusual way of depicting history and reality, men and women, seeking and obtaining shocks the American contemporary literal forum.

Pynchon is sometimes called the prophet of dooming days. However, he still goes all out to look for the way of salvation, which can be sensed clearly in his works. So he is regarded as one of the greatest writers of his era. Pynchons significance in the literary circle calls for attention from researchers. With the development of literary theories, there arise numerous perspectives to explore into Pynchons works. While reviewing some important angles for reading Pynchon”, the following ones cant be ignored.

The symbolic or metaphoric meaning of Pynchons works is frequently studied and commented on by many critics, including that of V.. Clarke and Forli (1981: 231) maintain that“…V. suggests the confrontation of European and American cultures…” At the same time, Newman (1986) studies the metaphors in V. (Friedman,1981: 69) and points out that Pynchons works make use of a term in physics——entropy as a metaphor to symbolize the doomed nature of human society. In the meantime, there are lots of thematic analyses of Pynchons works as well. Tanner (1978) provides a comprehensive view for people to understand Pynchons works, especially the themes in his novels. Without the framework of Tanners research, people will have great difficulty in understanding the chaotic and entropic world in Pynchons novels. His elaboration on the patterns and paranoia has heavily influenced the later critics as well. His comments about V. have combined central issues, such as entropy and dehumanization, with the themes of the novel. The comments can not only provide a detailed study of the novel, but also lead readers straightly to what Pynchon wants to emphasize. It is also pointed out by some researchers that when people are studying Pynchons works, the specially designed patterns and plots outline Pynchons definition of humans two options in the face of the chaotic and entropic world: one can stay in it and reduce chaos, or one can jump outside and fight against it.

Dehumanization, one of the frequently studied themes in Pynchons works, indicates that Pynchons characters are somehow less human. In V., the scale of artificiality within the human body extends from prostheses and other artificial body parts to strangely humanlike inanimate figures: mannequins, automata, crashtest dummies, etc. Human body is never a mere biological given, but something that articulates the conceptual differences between living/dead, real/artificial, subject/object, male/female, and human/nonhuman. The clearest symbol for the loss of humanity caused by the mechanization of the human body is, of course, the V.-figure, the woman of Stencils fantasies. From one story to another, she…undergoes a gradual transformation from a woman to a mock-human, whose body is composed mostly of mechanical parts.

Up to now, a lot of the research on Pynchons works, home or abroad, seems to center on the theme of seeking. His works, sharing similarity with other postmodern works, display a theme of constant seeking. In the western society, where meaning is lost, only through seeking, people could have the hope of breaking the barriers confining them (Sun, 2006: 91). Therefore, seeking also becomes a central theme in Pynchons works. The characters in V. are constantly seeking for something, which constitutes the significance of their existence.

Some researchers attempt to interpret Pynchons works from the perspectives of neohistoricism and feminism. They focus on the cultural, historical and literary past of Pynchons fictions and relate the fall of western culture and deterioration of history to Pynchons works. To some degree, Pynchons V. could be regarded as a parody of the whole western history. Kaufman (1976: 232) provides a more sensitive feminist reading of Pynchons works, who suggests that Pynchons work might be considered feminist in opposing patriarchal society.

Besides, Pynchons works are sometimes branded black humor. Therefore, some researchers try to probe into them from this perspective. “Novelists of black humor and the absurd have an eager audience in our post World War II society because people continue to want unifying principles in a chaotic world”(Elaine, 1981: 157). If this could be one of the standards for people to brand the works of black humor, Pynchons works are of every right to be one of them. Some researchers regard writers like Pynchon as “…writers of the absurd and black humor …show a tough-minded honesty, a desire to look things squarely in the face, when in fact they use laughter to insure themselves to painful concerns.” (ibid.)

Some research seems to focus on the narrative techniques of Pynchons works, including those of V.. “The plots of his works couldnt be summarized with several sentences. The narrator of the story varies. The narrative process, for transgression of temporal and spatial space, could be broken at will. All of which are used to indicate that the world is full of uncertainty” (Ye, 2003: 53).Therefore, anyone reading V. with the goal of finding the plots as are defined by those in the traditional novels will certainly be disappointed, since the plots in V. are broken. With this feature, reading his works undoubtedly becomes a great challenge. Reading, for common readers, is no longer a kind of pleasure, an enjoyment, but a torture. However, this is intended by the author. As is said by Pynchon, why should his works be easy to read? Why shouldnt they be difficult? The whole world, in Pynchons eyes, is complicated, which should be reflected in literary works.

Sun and Wang (2005) mention two V-shape narrative traces, one being the story of Profane, the other being Stencil. John W. Hunt (1981: 33) insists on the idea of “3 story lines” in the novel. The third line is focusing upon Victoria Wren. Needless to say, V. has a complicated yet intriguing structure. However, this complication still has its own narrative order. Chapters centered on the search for V. alternate with those dealing largely with the Whole Sick Crew. The two streams of narrative material mingle frequently throughout the novel and finally flow together in Chapter Sixteen. Very few researchers have tried to analyze the narrative structure of V within the framework of narratology systematically, which can shed light on both the structure and the theme of V..

3 Conclusion

Pynchon, being a pioneer of the post-modernism writer, his wit and talent in the aspect of narrative time and space create uncountable inspirations toward the literary world. The study of his works will undoubtedly influence the research and study of other contemporary works. The flexibility of narrative time and space Pynchon employs offers a perfect medium to reflect the chaos of individual mind, to capture the thoughts of characters and narrators, to walk freely in the labyrinth of narrative discourses. In addition, Pynchons works not only bear a great aesthetic effect but also have a profound ideological significance. He develops an adequate form suggestive of the chaotic society to express his views of western civilization. By depicting the inner world of her characters, he fully reveals westerners experience of pointless flux governed by unbearable tension in society, and discloses general disillusionment of her contemporaries.

References:

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作者简介:王健(1976-),女,职称:讲师,学位:硕士,研究方向:美国文学;双语词典学。

王安民(1977-),男,职称:讲师, 学位:硕士, 研究方向:双语词典学,翻译学。