Planetary Pynchon: History, Modernity, and the Anthropocene - Hardcover

Andersen, Tore Rye

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1009377574 ISBN 13: 9781009377577

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2023

Synopsis

While Thomas Pynchon is usually described as an American author who primarily writes about American reality, Planetary Pynchon: History, Modernity, and the Anthropocene argues that his major novels, Gravity's Rainbow, Mason & Dixon, and Against the Day, can profitably be read as a global trilogy that presents a coherent historical account of how the emergence and spread of European modernity across the world have had devastating consequences for the planet and its inhabitants. This book sets a new agenda in Pynchon studies, charting his early anticipation of anthropocenic and planetary ideas, including globalization's demand for constant growth. It combines close textual readings with broad perspectives on large thematic arcs and stylistic developments across Pynchon's entire career as well as an extensive dialogue with the rich reception of his work.

About this title

About the Author

Tore Rye Andersen is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at Aarhus University. He is the author of Den nye amerikanske roman/The New American Novel (2011), and he has published numerous articles on Thomas Pynchon and other American and British authors in journals such as Critique, Narrative, and Poetics Today.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1009377574
• ISBN 13: 9781009377577
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 244