Books by Thomas Pynchon
“Gravity’s Rainbow shows us the broad sweep of United States history… Tyrone Slothrop, who is the protagonist of the novel, is always harking back to his Puritan ancestors. So the novel goes from that Puritan period that is alluded to here and there—we get some longer passages about it and it’s always present—through to the turn of the century, and then right through into the Second World War, and the rumblings of the Cold War…It’s about the trajectory of a V2 rocket. The trajectory of the rocket corresponds to dozens of different philosophical or scientific theories about how rockets fly and what rockets do.” Read more...
The Best Novels about the History of the United States
Bernard T. Joy, Literary Scholar
Interviews where books by Thomas Pynchon were recommended
The Best Novels about the History of the United States, recommended by Bernard T. Joy
An exploration of the history of the United States may require novels that are challenging to read but offer the reward of really making you think about a complex subject. Literary scholar Bernard T. Joy talks us through five novels that explore U.S. history, from colonial times to the end of the 20th century.
