Review of Simon Malpas and Andrew Taylor, Thomas Pynchon (Manchester University Press, 2013)

George William Twigg

doi:10.7766/orbit.v1.2.128

Abstract

Book review of Review of Simon Malpas and Andrew Taylor, Thomas Pynchon (Manchester University Press, 2013). Review of Simon Malpas and Andrew Taylor, Thomas Pynchon (Manchester University Press, 2013) George William Twigg Simon Malpas and Andrew Taylor’s book is a welcome addition to Manchester University Press’s ‘Contemporary American and Canadian Writers’ series. Previous entries in the series include such complex, experimental authors as Paul Auster and Mark Z. Danielewski, amongst whom Pynchon is in good company. Indeed, much of the book is devoted to discussing exactly how we may ‘read’ Pynchon’s difficult, allusive style. The series editors’ foreword states that ‘[c]entral to the series is a concern that each book should argue a stimulating thesis, rather than provide an introductory survey’, and while we may wonder whether any book on Pynchon’s vast, complex fictional world can truly be more than an ‘introduction’, Malpas and Taylor are indeed stimulating. Their study provides a clear, lucid discussion of several key themes in Pynchon’s novels, chief amongst which are paranoia, the emancipatory power of fantasy and alternative modes of perception, and the ‘subjunctive potentiality’ (3) of spaces of resistance. Malpas and Taylor’s analysis is always illuminating, and their analysis of space in particular ensures that their book is a significant contribution to the diffuse field of Pynchon scholarship. Chapter One focuses on three of the stories published in Slow Learner. ‘Low-lands’ is placed in its historical and cultural context, with incisive readings of 1950s cultural critiques by figures such as David Riesman and C. Wright Mills, who argued that ‘[t]he success of American capitalism had led[...]to the occlusion of dissenting voices from debates about national identity’ (14). Characteristically of their book, Malpas and Taylor examine space, warning that the apparent promise in ‘Low-lands’ of ‘a renewed privatised space and a reconstituted individuality’ (15) may be illusory, as the story’s ending suggests. ‘The Secret Integration’ is read in conjunction with Pynchon’s article ‘A Journey Into the Mind of Watts’, with the authors sensitively charting the disparities between white and black experiences of Copyright © 2015, George William Twigg License (open-access): This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The citation of this article must include: the name(s) of the authors, the name of the journal, the full URL of the article (in a hyperlinked format if distributed online) and the DOI number of the article. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7766/orbit.v1.2.128 2 Review of Simon Malpas and Andrew Taylor, Thomas Pynchon (Manchester University

Highlights

Simon Malpas and Andrew Taylor’s book is a welcome addition to Manchester University Press’s ‘Contemporary American and Canadian Writers’ series
In its appreciation of space and resistance in Slow Learner, this chapter effectively introduces the key themes of Malpas and Taylor’s book as a whole, and anticipates the extension of these concerns to Pynchon’s novels in its later chapters
Malpas and Taylor explore the contrast between the ‘chaotic and never fully engaged wandering of Profane’, and ‘the obsessively ordered “hot-house”’ of Stencil’s ‘plotting’ (75), asserting that they are more alike than some might realise; Stencil is barely more engaged with history than Profane, as thanks to his obsession with V. he ‘displays an attitude so obsessively focused on a single figure that all other events, even those involving the most extreme suffering and horror, appear only on the sidelines’ (79)

Summary

Introduction

Simon Malpas and Andrew Taylor’s book is a welcome addition to Manchester University Press’s ‘Contemporary American and Canadian Writers’ series. In its appreciation of space and resistance in Slow Learner, this chapter effectively introduces the key themes of Malpas and Taylor’s book as a whole, and anticipates the extension of these concerns to Pynchon’s novels in its later chapters.

Results

Conclusion