Pynchon’s Paranoiac Vision

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In 1966, when The Crying of Lot 49 was published, Pynchon’s “all-ecompassing paranoiac vision of history” seemed “so kooky” and “far-fetched.”

Fast forward to 2013, and Pynchon’s Bleeding Edge, a novel focused on events before, during, and after 9/11 “becomes not just an ideal but a compulsory subject for a late Pynchon novel,” as Michael Chabon writes in his review for The New York Review of Books.

It appears history has caught up with this American prophet’s dark vision.

 

Serena Candelaria is a Rumpus intern, and a self-proclaimed fiction addict. This summer, she worked at 29th Street Publishing and began writing a novella. She is currently a senior at Yale, where she studies Literature. More from this author →