Thomas Pynchon

Born

in Glen Cove, Long Island, New York, The United States

May 08, 1937

Genre

Influences

Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. is an American writer based in New York City, noted for his dense and complex works of fiction. Hailing from Long Island, Pynchon spent 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 today: V. (1963), The Crying of Lot 49 (1966), Gravity's Rainbow (1973), Vineland (1990), Mason & Dixon (1997), and Against the Day (2006).

Pynchon is regarded by many readers and critics as one of the finest contemporary authors. He is a MacArthur Fellow and a recipient of the National Book Award, and is regularly cited as a contender for the Nobel Prize in Liter ...more

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Thomas Pynchon’s books

Average rating: 4.12 · 2,482,559 ratings · 62,557 reviews · 47 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Crying of Lot 49 3.69 avg rating — 74,359 ratings — published 1966 — 113 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Gravity's Rainbow 3.96 avg rating — 40,304 ratings — published 1973 — 83 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Inherent Vice 3.73 avg rating — 29,625 ratings — published 2009 — 60 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	V. 3.97 avg rating — 19,589 ratings — published 1963 — 69 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mason & Dixon 4.09 avg rating — 9,556 ratings — published 1997 — 43 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bleeding Edge 3.58 avg rating — 10,976 ratings — published 2013 — 42 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Against the Day 3.95 avg rating — 9,033 ratings — published 2006 — 35 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Vineland 3.69 avg rating — 9,817 ratings — published 1990 — 43 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Slow Learner: Early Stories 3.50 avg rating — 4,244 ratings — published 1984 — 16 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Entropy 3.53 avg rating — 313 ratings — published 1960 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Thomas Pynchon

“Every weirdo in the world is on my wavelength.”
― Thomas Pynchon

2467 likes

“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers.”
― Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow

tags: answers, paranoia, proverbs, questions, wit

1605 likes

“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.

1155 likes

See all Thomas Pynchon's quotes »

Polls

Voting for 2019 Quarterly Reads

1Q84 - Haruki Murakami

5 votes, 16.7%

Memory of Fire Eduardo Galeano

5 votes, 16.7%

Cryptonomicon Neal Stephenson

5 votes, 16.7%

A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry

4 votes, 13.3%

The Portrait of a Lady Henry James

3 votes, 10.0%

Testament of Youth -Vera Brittain

2 votes, 6.7%

Of Human Bondage W. Somerset Maugham

1 vote, 3.3%

The Goldfinch Donna Tartt

1 vote, 3.3%

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami

1 vote, 3.3%

The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll - Álvaro Mutis

1 vote, 3.3%

Parade's End - Ford Madox Ford

1 vote, 3.3%

Fortunata y Jacinta - Benito Pérez Galdós

1 vote, 3.3%

The Discovery of Heaven Harry Mulisch 1Q84

0 votes, 0.0%

Celestial Harmonies - Péter Esterházy

0 votes, 0.0%

Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon

0 votes, 0.0%

Daniel Deronda -George Eliot

0 votes, 0.0%

The Betrothed - Alessandro Manzoni

0 votes, 0.0%

The Magic Mountain Thomas Mann

0 votes, 0.0%

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman Laurence Sterne

0 votes, 0.0%

Moby-Dick or, The Whale Herman Melville

0 votes, 0.0%

Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

0 votes, 0.0%

Berlin Alexanderplatz Alfred Döblin

0 votes, 0.0%

The Golden Notebook Doris Lessing

0 votes, 0.0%

Lost Illusions Honoré de Balzac

0 votes, 0.0%

Our Mutual Friend - Charles Dickens

0 votes, 0.0%

The Sorrow of Belgium Hugo Claus

0 votes, 0.0%

The Red and the Black Stendhal

0 votes, 0.0%

30 total votes

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