Pynchon, Thomas 1937-
US novelist

He was born in Glen Cove, New York, and educated at Cornell University. V (1963), his first novel, is a loose, episodic book, influenced by the Beat generation and by Pynchon's developing use of paranoia as a structural device, centring on a mysterious female principle at work in modern history. Seen by some as wilfully obscure, by others as a swashbuckling experimentalist, he uses sprawling and loquacious language, and fabulous structures in which the normal conventions of the novel have been largely abandoned. Studiously avoiding public forums, he is obsessively studied and mined for autobiographical and more arcane references, of which there is no shortage. Subsequent publications include The Crying of Lot 49 (1966) and Gravity's Rainbow (1973), concerning Tyrone Slothrop, lost in a surreal labyrinth but imbued with the wherewithal - in his reproductive organ - to predict exactly the sites of V-2 explosions in London. Vineland (1990) appeared to return to an earlier, more freewheeling and satirical style and received mixed reviews, particularly in Great Britain. Slow Learner (1984) collected early stories and included a disarmingly straightforward introduction. He published Mason & Dixon in 1997.

Bibliography: T H Schaub, Pynchon: the voice of ambiguity (1981)