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Thomas Pynchon

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Thomas Pynchon


Born
in Glen Cove, Long Island, New York, The United States
May 08, 1937

Website

Genre
Literary Fiction, Classics

Influences
Richard Fariña, T.S. Eliot, Vladimir Nabokov, Kafka, Henry Miller, Jac ...more


Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and nonfiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, genres and themes, including history, music, science, and mathematics. For Gravity's Rainbow, Pynchon won the 1973 U.S. National Book Award for Fiction.

Hailing from Long Island, Pynchon served two years in the United States Navy and earned an English degree from Cornell University. After publishing several short stories in the late 1950s and early 1960s, he began composing the novels for which he is best known: V. (1963), The Crying of Lot 49 (1966), and Gravity's Rainbow (1973). Rumors of a historical novel about Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon had circulated as early as ...more

Combine Editions

Average rating: 4.16 · 1,726,290 ratings · 72,718 reviews · 48 distinct works • Similar authors
The Crying of Lot 49
3.69 avg rating — 96,890 ratings — published 1966 — 175 editions
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Gravity’s Rainbow
4.01 avg rating — 48,005 ratings — published 1973 — 139 editions
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Inherent Vice
3.80 avg rating — 38,195 ratings — published 2009 — 76 editions
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V.
3.97 avg rating — 25,273 ratings — published 1963 — 2 editions
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Vineland
3.76 avg rating — 16,868 ratings — published 1990 — 2 editions
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Mason & Dixon
4.14 avg rating — 12,528 ratings — published 1997 — 2 editions
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Bleeding Edge
3.62 avg rating — 14,139 ratings — published 2013 — 61 editions
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Against the Day
4.05 avg rating — 10,206 ratings — published 2006 — 52 editions
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Slow Learner
3.53 avg rating — 5,406 ratings — published 1984 — 40 editions
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Shadow Ticket
3.63 avg rating — 3,652 ratings — published 2025 — 3 editions
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More books by Thomas Pynchon…

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Quotes by Thomas Pynchon  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“Every weirdo in the world is on my wavelength.”
― Thomas Pynchon
2485 likes
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“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers.”
― Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow
tags: paranoia, proverbs, wit
1752 likes
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“Life's single lesson: that there is more accident to it than a man can ever admit to in a lifetime and stay sane.”
― Thomas Pynchon, V.
1199 likes
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Polls

1st Quarter Long Read Classic Poll-January 2015

 
  17 votes, 32.7%

 
  10 votes, 19.2%

 
  6 votes, 11.5%

1973, Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, 776 pages
 
  6 votes, 11.5%

 
  5 votes, 9.6%

 
  5 votes, 9.6%

1957, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, 1168 pages
 
  2 votes, 3.8%

1995?, The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil, 1774 pages
 
  1 vote, 1.9%

52 total votes
More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

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Hipinion: so, a bookclub? 8 145 May 03, 2007 11:00AM  
UC Berkeley iSchool: What's on the holiday stack? 11 133 Nov 14, 2008 02:19PM  
The Next Best Boo...: We have our JUNE group read WINNERS!! 216 802 Jun 02, 2009 02:58PM  
The Next Best Boo...: New Group--Gravity's Rainbow discussion 2 201 Jun 29, 2009 04:22PM  
The Next Best Boo...: Opening Paragraphs 306 1264 Feb 15, 2010 06:12PM  
SciFi and Fantasy...: What are you reading in March 2010? 86 270 Apr 16, 2010 11:53AM  
Book Buying Addic...: Titles A-Z Game 684 818 Apr 21, 2010 07:20PM  
The Life of a Boo...: Elaine's TBR list 39 126 Jun 06, 2010 04:49AM  
The Seasonal Read...: 10.1 - Stormy Weather 18 197 Jul 24, 2010 07:37AM  


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