Planetary Pynchon
History, Modernity, and the Anthropocene

The book reads Pynchon's major novels as a global trilogy about history, modernity and the rise of the Anthropocene.

Tore Rye Andersen (Author)

9781009377577, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 24 August 2023

244 pages
23.5 x 16 x 2 cm, 0.51 kg

'Erecting a conceptual bridge from the colonial and imperial discourses that inform modern global capitalism to the critical environmentalisms that make up the growing field of Anthropocene studies, Andersen delivers an ambitiously conceived and deeply rewarding analysis of one the most important American novelists of the post−World War II era.' Patrick Whitmarsh, Studies in the Novel

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.

1. Introduction: Pynchon's Global Trilogy
2. Mason & Dixon: History at the Crossroads
3. Against the Day: From World Fair to World War
4. Gravity's Rainbow: Immachination at the End of the Line
5. Pynchon's Literary Evolution
6. Planetary Pynchon.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: from c 1900 - [DSBH]