The Tao of Thomas Pynchon

Michael Harris

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The Tao of Thomas Pynchon

In: Against the Grain

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Michael Harris

Michael Harris
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 213–229

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789042030732_013

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It is clear from numerous references in his novels that Pynchon has considerable knowledge and interest in the subject of Eastern religion, yet so far criticism has neglected to address this topic, with the exception of Robert Kohn’s 2003 essay “Seven Buddhist Themes in Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49.” Rather than promoting a particular religious belief, Pynchon’s texts utilize Eastern religion as a foil to contrast with the more familiar Western, Christian perspective. Referencing Eastern religion thus serves as a defamiliarizing technique as well as a means of suggesting an alternative mode of perceiving the world. Pynchon has at times expressed an implicit desire to recover or return to a sacred past, once alive but now eviscerated by state-run religion, capitalism, and technology. In this essay, I argue that, given this general shift from the spiritual to the secular, Pynchon’s referencing of Eastern religion is not only a signifier worth taking seriously, but also a meaningful structuring device that he increasingly uses in his longer narratives: Gravity’s Rainbow, Mason & Dixon, and Against the Day.

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Against the Grain

Reading Pynchon’s Counternarratives

Series: Dialogue, Volume: 8 and Dialogue Online, Volume: 8

E-Book ISBN:: 9789042030732

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 01 Jan 2010

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- American Studies
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The Tao of Thomas Pynchon

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Against the Grain

Reading Pynchon’s Counternarratives

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