Thomas Pynchon and the Postmodern Mythology of the Underworld

Smith (mythological studies, Pacifica Graduate Institute) presents five mini-studies of stories by Thomas Pynchon that tease out what Smith terms "necrotypes," archetypes catalyzed by a trip or connection to the underworld (nekyia). The five include: V, The Crying of Lot 49, Gravity's Rainbow, Mason & Dixon, and Against the Day. These readings stay close to the text, attending to what T.S. Eliot described as the "mythical method." He shows that the nekyia is a central feature of these novels that draw on Pynchon's immense abilities as a writer: "the diction and iconography of the nekyia is the single most important myth in the novels, conferring that shape and significance upon their potential anarchy and futility that Eliot saw as the consequence of the mythical method." To this end, Smith argues that the modernist and postmodernist underworlds can be conceived as four chambers: crypt, inferno, temenos, and cornucopia. The underworld is where we encounter the voices of the dead and their accumulated wisdom, a place of spiritual and historical suffering, and where seed forms of the imagination are stored. This book, comprised only of close readings, does not present a conclusion. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Evans Lansing Smith is Chair of the Mythological Studies Program at the Pacifica Graduate Institute. He received his BA in English from Williams College, his MA in creative writing from Antioch International, and his MA and PhD in comparative literature from The Claremont Graduate School. He is the author of eight books and numerous articles on comparative literature and mythology and has taught at colleges and universities in Switzerland, Maryland, California, and Texas (where he received the 2003 Hardin Distinguished Professor Award at Midwestern State University).