/lit/ - Literature

There are two Pynchons. One is the genius who wrote V (1963), The Crying of Lot 49 (1965), Gravity's Rainbow (1973) and Mason & Dixon (1997). The Other is probably an amanuensis, perhaps a young relative, someone to whom the Master has lent his name. This Other wrote Vineland (1986), Inherent Vice (2009), Bleeding Edge (2013) and possibly also Against the Day (2006).

I base this hypothesis on two things. 1) Prose. Whoever wrote Gravity's Rainbow has a command of language that surpasses Vineland by many orders of magnitude. Not a single sentence in Vineland sounds like it was written by Pynchon. The only common denominator is the goofiness, which is easy to emulate. 2) Cognitive strength. The work of the Other is intellectually trivial compared to the work of the One. So maybe Pynchon suffered a stroke during the thirteen years between Gravity's Rainbow and Vineland? This doesn't explain Mason & Dixon, his greatest work to date. Why is he doing this? A PoMo joke? Money?

There are two Pynchons. One is the genius who wrote V (1963), The Crying of Lot 49 (1965), Gravity's Rainbow (1973) and Mason & Dixon (1997). The Other is probably an amanuensis, perhaps a young relative, someone to whom the Master has lent his name. This Other wrote Vineland (1986), Inherent Vice (2009), Bleeding Edge (2013) and possibly also Against the Day (2006).

I base this hypothesis on two things. 1) Prose. Whoever wrote Gravity's Rainbow has a command of language that surpasses Vineland by many orders of magnitude. Not a single sentence in Vineland sounds like it was written by Pynchon. The only common denominator is the goofiness, which is easy to emulate. 2) Cognitive strength. The work of the Other is intellectually trivial compared to the work of the One. So maybe Pynchon suffered a stroke during the thirteen years between Gravity's Rainbow and Vineland? This doesn't explain Mason & Dixon, his greatest work to date. Why is he doing this? A PoMo joke? Money?

There are two Pynchons. One is the genius who wrote V (1963), The Crying of Lot 49 (1965), Gravity's Rainbow (1973) and Mason & Dixon (1997). The Other is probably an amanuensis, perhaps a young relative, someone to whom the Master has lent his name. This Other wrote Vineland (1986), Inherent Vice (2009), Bleeding Edge (2013) and possibly also Against the Day (2006).

I base this hypothesis on two things. 1) Prose. Whoever wrote Gravity's Rainbow has a command of language that surpasses Vineland by many orders of magnitude. Not a single sentence in Vineland sounds like it was written by Pynchon. The only common denominator is the silly goofiness, which is easy to emulate. 2) Cognitive strength. The work of the Other is intellectually trivial compared to the work of the One. So maybe Pynchon suffered a stroke during the thirteen years between Gravity's Rainbow and Vineland? This doesn't explain Mason & Dixon, his greatest work to date. Why is he doing this? A PoMo joke? Money?