Thomas Pynchon & the dark passages of history /
Cowart, David,1947-
Athens, Ga. : University of Georgia Press,
c2011.
For David Cowart, Thomas 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. This book 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. -- from Back Cover
Includes bibliographical references (p. 227-235) and index.
Introduction : calibrating Clio -- Prospero's apprenticeship : Slow learner -- History and myth : Pynchon's V. -- Streben nach dem Unendlichen : Germany and German culture in Pynchon's early work -- Pynchon and the sixties : the California novels -- The luddite vision : Mason & Dixon -- Pynchon, genealogy, history : Against the day -- The historiographer historicized : Pynchon and literary history.
For David Cowart, Thomas 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. This book 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. -- from Back Cover
Pynchon, Thomas