The Review of Contemporary Fiction

Thomas Pynchon: Schizophrenia & Social Control: Papers from the Warwick Conference and Pychon Notes ed. by Eric Cassidy and Dan O'Hara
Robert L. McLaughlin

Eric Cassidy and Dan O’Hara, eds. Thomas Pynchon: Schizophrenia & Social Control: Papers from the Warwick Conference. Special issue of Pynchon Notes 34-35 (Spring-Fall 1994) [1997]. (English Dept., Univ. of Wisconsin—Eau Claire, Ean Claire WI, 54702-4004.) 224 pp. Paper: $10.00.

A few years ago, I had an NEH grant application rejected because, according to the readers’ report, there had been so much work done on Pynchon already that there was really nothing new left to be said. I hope those readers see this superb collection of essays, selections from the Pynchon conference held in Warwick, England, in 1994, all proving that there is much still to be said about Pynchon. The general focus here is to approach Pynchon’s (pre-Mason & Dixon) work through cybertheory—cyborg, cyberspace, cyberpunk—and through the theories of Deleuze and Guattari, but the essays represent these approaches and many more: narratology, source studies, cultural studies, intertextual analyses. The most revelatory—for me—of these uniformly strong essays are John Johnston’s study of media systems in Vineland, Steven Weisenburger’s careful analysis of embedded narration in Gravity’s Rainbow, Bernard Duyfhuizen’s exploration of Gravity’s Rainbow’s Walter Rathenau séance, and Eric Cassidy’s fascinating discussion of economic theory in Gravity’s Rainbow. The issue also presents the abstracts of the remaining conference presentations, plus Pynchon Note’s regular review section and invaluable, ongoing Pynchon bibliography. This collection is a must for all who labor in the Pynchon industry; for the avocational enthusiast, it is a good introduction to the latest and most interesting ideas in Pynchon studies. [Robert L. McLaughlin]