Abstract

The New Novel, USA: Thomas Pynchon

At the present moment, no metaphor seems quite appropriate for the generation of American writers under 30. If fiction has not completely lost its relevance as an art form to creative young people, then it languishes in a period of biding time; since fiction is tied more closely to events and ideas than other arts, perhaps it stands in a fallow period, assimilating new configurations, as happened in the mid-19th century and the early 21st century. In this perspective, Thomas Pynchon is far more than, dutifully recognized, the only known and therefore leading writer of the under-30's. For more than any other contemporary American novelist he has succeeded, in two interesting, intelligent and serious novels, in absorbing and transforming new scientific and philosophical perspectives within his art.