Thomas Pynchon & the dark passages of history
By: David Cowart
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Athens, Ga
Language: eng
Number of pages: 250
ISBN-13: 9780820340623; 9780820340630
Subjects: Criticism and interpretation
Other titles: Thomas Pynchon and the dark passages of history
Description: 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
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 227-235) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction : calibrating Clio; title: Prospero's apprenticeship : Slow learner; title: History and myth : Pynchon's V.; title: Streben nach dem Unendlichen : Germany and German culture in Pynchon's early work; title: Pynchon and the sixties : the California novels; title: The luddite vision : Mason & Dixon; title: Pynchon, genealogy, history : Against the day; title: The historiographer historicized : Pynchon and literary history.