Thomas Pynchon helped pioneer the postmodern aesthetic. His
formidable body of work challenges readers to think and perceive in
ways that anticipate--with humor, insight, and cogency--much that
has emerged in the field of literary theory over the past few
decades. For David Cowart, Pynchon's most profound teachings are
about history--history as myth, as rhetorical construct, as false
consciousness, as prologue, as mirror, and as seedbed of national
and literary identities.
In one encyclopedic novel after another, Pynchon has
reconceptualized historical periods that he sees as culturally
definitive. Examining Pynchon's entire body of work, Cowart offers
an engaging, metahistorical reading of V.; an exhaustive analysis
of the influence of German culture in Pynchon's early work, with
particular emphasis on "Gravity's Rainbow"; and a critical
spectroscopy of those dark stars, "Mason & Dixon" and "Against
the Day." He defends the California fictions "The Crying of Lot
49," "Vineland," and" Inherent Vice" as" roman fleuve" chronicling
the decade in which the American tapestry began to unravel. Cowart
ends his study by considering Pynchon's place in literary
history.
Cowart argues that Pynchon has always understood the facticity
of historical narrative and the historicity of storytelling--not to
mention the relations of both story and history to myth. "Thomas
Pynchon and the Dark Passages of History" offers a deft analysis of
the problems of history as engaged by our greatest living novelist
and argues for the continuity of Pynchon's historical vision.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
