Pynchon, Thomas 1937–

Pynchon is an American experimental novelist and short story writer often associated with the black humorists. His labyrinthine, encyclopedic novels reflect the formlessness of contemporary history and depict the powerlessness of the individual before contemporary technology and a seemingly imminent apocalypse. In his novels all events seem to be linked to vague conspiracies, his protagonists becoming in volved in vain quests to seek the root of these mysteries. Pynchon is considered by many critics to be the most important American novelist to emerge in the past twenty years. Each of his three novels has garnered a major literary prize. Most notably, he won a National Book Award for Gravity's Rainbow. (See also CLC, Vols. 2, 3, 6, 9, 11, and Contemporary Authors, Vols. 17-20, rev. ed.)