Signs and Symptoms: Thomas Pynchon and the Contemporary World

America has produced two important groups of post-war novelists, the 'neo-realists', who inherit the traditions of realism and naturalism, and the 'counter-realists', who consciously react against those traditions. Thomas Pynchon has a net affinity for the latter kind of fiction, yet, as Peter Cooper shows, he is unique among the counter-realists. Cooper examines Pynchon's novels first against the backdrop of contemporary fiction. While sharing the general interest of the counter-realists in labyrinthine plots, intricate fantasies, and self-made realities, Pynchon differs from them in his great concern about political and sociological problems. Cooper then explores Pynchon's view of the modern world, both its apparent ills and available remedies. Contending that Pynchon criticism has focused too narrowly on the author's treatment of the problems of the modern world rather than the possibilities it offers, Cooper aligns himself with a more recent and persuasive trend in Pynchon studies that stresses the author's ambivalence--his despair countered by hope. This ambivalence is present in all forms of Pynchon's thought and expression. Pynchon's authorial practices, especially his prose style, have received surprisingly little attention. ...Pynchon's commentators typically neglect his craft in favor of his themes and materials. ...Cooper examines the author's literary methods, from the structure of sentences to the structure of whole books.