Thomas Pynchon

prominent author Thomas Pynchon is a mystery. However his books are known for being a masterpiece, particularly, the story “Secret Integration”. The story takes place in a town in New York, showing segregation in a northern state. The story is about 5 friends who plays pranks on the PTA. Despite having long descriptions and being confusing at times, the story was great read and the reader could learn from it. Pynchon made the story unique and enjoyable by having the story through a kids perspective, by showing segregation and having a simple hidden theme. The story is told through the eyes of Tim, an average kid during this time. Being young Tim still has a wild imagination. The first time where the reader sees…

Analysing specific examples of literary influence is paramount to practically exemplify prior theoretical claims. The influence of Edgar Allen Poe upon Jorge Luis Borges, and subsequent influence of Borges upon Thomas Pynchon, will be assessed. These authors have been selected as they emanate from distinct cultural contexts, while their writings are separated by several decades. Firstly, Borges (1998, p.196) directly acknowledges Poe’s influence, noting, “Poe taught me how to use my imagination…

reconfigured, and code-scrambled antecedent texts”, signifying diverse enactments of influence, which repurpose narratives. Thus, notions of literary influence are intricate and varied. Nominally, texts can inform past, present, and future cultural iterations. However, Bloom, Borges, and Thompsons’ theories are predicated on the inevitability of literary influence, as well as the continuity it cultivates, implying cultural transmissions are partially facilitated by literary influence.…

television perceives the world in terms of image. Her actions fueled her desire to have the capacity to question and merge many aspects of the world together. Oedipa recognized that the world of The Crying of Lot 49 was fragmented. For example, she recognized in the novel that the world contained diverse groups of people that did not fit together. Some of these included: druggies, rock singers, lawyers, actors, Mafia, and the other century cultures. The novel clarifies that these groups weren’t…

After strict moral standards established many years ago appeared to have failed, and science had proven that it could not prove the origin of the universe, a new philosophical and artistic expression moved in to fill the void of the Modernist Movement. The Postmodern Movement was born out of a lack of faith in society and the established way of life as a whole, and embraced the philosophy of meaninglessness and a rejection of the transcendental meta-narrative. This move has been fully expressed…

Entropy and Meaning in Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 In modernity, the narrative of scientific progress operates under the assumption of order and linear progress. But with the rise of postmodern theory, these assumptions begin to be called into question to provoke new scientific discourses based on indeterminacies and discontinuities. The Crying of Lot 49 poses the same questions of the possibility of scientific knowledge and the search for intrinsic meaning. Pynchon follows the…

A person’s motives for various activities are often misunderstood from their obvious intentions. The novel, White Noise, is written depicting the scenario of America in the future, revealing paths that Americans might take. Throughout the story, Delillo in a somewhat subtle matter criticizes American society’s flaws. Taking place in a small mid-western college town, the Gladney family encounters difficulties with raising children, drug addictions, and personal fears. The satirical postmodern…

Research Note #2: “The Most Photographed Barn in America” Paragraph A: In this passage extracted from the novel White Noise, the author, Don Dellilo describes Jack and Murray’s visit to a tourist attraction known as the most photographed barn in America to exhibit the significance of perception in addition to humanity’s lack of awareness regarding reification. The first paragraph establishes the scene in a countryside with a “MOST PHOTOGRAPHED BARN IN AMERICA” sign, the presence of animals and…

Christian Martinez Professor Ingrid Jayne English 205 July 25, 2016 Living a Simulated Life in White Noise Don DeLillo’s novel White Noise is an outsider’s look inside small town America through the eyes and ears of its first person narrator Jack Gladney. Jack is a middle-class, middle-aged white male academic, who basks in the achievement of having created a department of Hitler Studies. He lives with his current wife, Babette, and an assortment of children from their previous marriages.…

Realness beneath the layers of cosmetic perception”. Here, DeLillo seems to be speaking passive aggressively to deliver a message to his wife that conveys that it could also happen to her, anyone to be exact. This could also be referencing the negative outcomes that accompany the desensitization of society. In the case of this sentence, it seems that the husband is instilling fear into his wife’s heart just to enjoy seeing her reaction. This somehow explains why people always have an undying…