Thomas Pynchon

Thomas Pynchon is one of the greatest contemporary novelists. Many compare him to Joyce, considering that these two authors represent the pinnacle of postmodernism and modernism, respectively. He was born in Long Island, New York, in 1937. Pynchon first studied engineering and then English literature at Cornell University during the time when Nabokov was teaching there. He began working as an engineer at Boeing while simultaneously writing his first book, "V," which quickly garnered a devoted following. He is the author of the books: "V." (1963), "The Crying of Lot 49" (1966), "Gravity's Rainbow" (1973), "Slow Learner" (short stories, 1984), "Vineland" (1990), "Mason & Dixon" (1997), "Against the Day" (2006), and "Inherent Vice" (2009). In 1974, he won the National Book Award for "Gravity's Rainbow." He lives in New York and is a MacArthur Fellow. A staunch opponent of publicity, almost nothing is known about his personal life; he does not give interviews and has avoided being photographed over the years. However, he frequently writes articles about authors, bands, music, and social issues.