You might have heard people hail Thomas Pynchon as one of the world’s great writers, or his novels referred to as postmodern masterpieces of American literature. You might not have heard about Pynchon’s wry and zany sense of humour, or that his fans describe his epic books as ‘compulsively addictive’.
On the publication of Shadow Ticket , Pynchon's first novel in 12 years, now is the perfect moment to plunge into his wild and wonderful fictional worlds. Read on to discover where to get started with Pynchon's works.
The best Thomas Pynchon book to read first
Thanks to the 2014 film adaptation starring Joaquin Phoenix and Owen Wilson, Inherent Vice has become for many the gateway drug to Pynchon. The scene is Los Angeles, at a time when 1960s counterculture was beginning to sour, and we join private eye Doc Sportello as he begins investigating the disappearance of a property mogul. Doc is soon sucked into a psychedelic pin-ball machine of sex, murder, fake actors and dead musicians, while at the centre looms a secret underground group known as the Golden Fang.
The easiest Thomas Pynchon book to read
Pynchon's most approachable book is also his shortest. Despite its brevity, it contains many of the hallmarks of Pynchonland – distinctive character names, conspiracy theories, very funny set-pieces and an open-ended quest. Californian housewife Oedipa Maas has been made executor of her dead lover’s will. While attempting to uncover the extent of his estate, she stumbles upon a mysterious organisation whose members communicate by means of an ancient alternative postal system. But is this shadowy society just a product of Oedipa’s increasingly paranoid imagination?
Thomas Pynchon's most famous book
Pynchon’s magnum opus is ostensibly about an American G.I. who seems to have a psychosexual connection to Nazi Germany’s V-2 rockets. Alongside David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest and James Joyce ’s Ulysses
