Claim: Thomas Pynchon published short stories in the late 1950s.

Thomas Ruggles Pynchon , Jr. -LRB- -LSB- ˈpɪnˌtʃɒn -RSB- , commonly -LSB- ˈpɪntʃən -RSB- born May 8 , 1937 -RRB- is an American novelist . A MacArthur Fellow , he is noted for his dense and complex novels . His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter , genres and themes , including history , music , science , and mathematics . For Gravity 's Rainbow , Pynchon won the 1974 U.S. National Book Award for Fiction .   Hailing from Long Island , Pynchon served two years in the United States Navy and earned an English degree from Cornell University . After publishing several short stories in the late 1950s and early 1960s , he began composing the novels for which he is best known : V. -LRB- 1963 -RRB- , The Crying of Lot 49 -LRB- 1966 -RRB- , Gravity 's Rainbow -LRB- 1973 -RRB- , and Mason & Dixon -LRB- 1997 -RRB- . Pynchon is also notoriously reclusive ; very few photographs of him have ever been published , and rumors about his location and identity have circulated since the 1960s .   Pynchon 's most recent novel , Bleeding Edge , was published on September 17 , 2013 .