Person

Thomas Pynchon

Related Excerpts

Map of the Mason-Dixon line.

Mason-Dixon Lines

The boundary lines preceding Mason and Dixon, everybody knows, were a sham. What’s to follow will be no better.
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History Is Hard to Decode

On 50 years of Thomas Pynchon’s “Gravity’s Rainbow.”
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Michael Kramer on Menand’s "The Free World" and Dinerstein’s "The Origins of Cool in Postwar America"

Two differing explorations of post-WWII culture, politics, and ideals.

The Enduring Lessons of a New Deal Writers Project

The case for a Federal Writers' Project 2.0.
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The Age of Innocence: How a US Classic Defined Its Era

Cameron Laux looks at how The Age of Innocence – published 100 years ago – marked a pivotal moment in US history.
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Watching the End of the World

The Doomsday Clock is set to two minutes to midnight. So why don't we make movies about nuclear war anymore?
Rows of typewriters in front of computers

How Literature Became Word Perfect

Before the word processor, perfect copy was the domain of the typist—not the literary genius.
Black and white photo of Ornette Coleman.

Seeing Ornette Coleman

Coleman’s approach to improvisation shook twentieth-century jazz. It was a revolutionary idea that sounded like a folk song.
Photograph of Jack Kerouac looking into a shop window, by Allen Ginsberg.

Drive, Jack Kerouac Wrote

"On the Road" is a sad and somewhat self-consciously lyrical story about loneliness, insecurity, and failure. It’s also a story about guys who want to be with other guys.