Thomas Pynchon Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Anthologies

Thomas Pynchon is one of the well known novelists from America who has written several complex and dense novels in his writing career. The books that he ha written on the fiction and nonfiction styles cover a wide array of genres, subject matters, and themes. They even include music, history, mathematics, and science. For one of his books titled ‘Gravity’s Rainbow’ author Pynchon was awarded with the National Book Award of United States for Fiction in the year 1974. He was born as Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr., on May 8, 1937, in Glen Cove, New York, United States. Before going to serve as one of the popular authors, Pynchon served in the United States Navy for a period of 2 years. Hailing from the Long Island, author Pynchon obtained his degree in the English subject from the Cornell University. He started his writing career by publishing a few short stories in the beginning during the 1950s and 1960s. After experiencing some success in his initial attempt, he started composing the books for which he is well known today. In spite of being a noteworthy novelist, author Pynchon is known to be notoriously reclusive as he does not like to take photographs of him.

People can find very few photographs of his that have ever been published. Also, the rumors about his identity and residence have been circulating since the 1960s, but no one knows the exact details related to him as such. The most recent novel written by author Pynchon was published in the year 2013 and was titled as ‘Bleeding Edge’. Being born in a small town in Long Island, Pynchon was one among the three children born to Katherine Frances Bennett and Thomas Ruggles Pynchon. William Pynchon was the earliest ancestor of author Pynchon, who migrated to Massachusetts Bay Colony in the year 1630 along with the Winthrop Fleet. Later, he went on to become the founder of the Springfield, Massachusetts in the year 1636. Following William Pynchon, a series of descendants founded reputation and wealth on the American soil. Several aspects of the ancestry of the Pynchon family and his family background have inspired the fiction writings of author Pynchon in some or the other way. Pynchon grew as a Catholic.

As a child, author Pynchon attended the Oyster Bay School, located in Oyster Bay. Academically, he was very good in his studies and was also awarded with the student of the year award. He also used to contribute to his school newspaper with several short fictional stories. He graduated from high school in the year 1953 when he was 16 years old. After that, Pynchon joined the Cornell University for studying engineering physics. However, he left college in the second year and went on to join the United States Navy. Author Pynchon returned back to the Cornell University in the year 1957 and earned his degree in English. The published story written by him was titled as ‘The Small Rain’ and made an appearance in the Cornell Writer in the year 1959. This book narrates the story of a real friend of author Pynchon, who had served with him in the U.S. Army. When Pynchon was still studying at the Cornell University, he had made friendships with David Shetzline and Richard Farina.

Author Pynchon’s novel, Gravity Rainbow, was dedicated to Farina and he also served as his best man as well as his pallbearer. Farina and author Pynchon have led the micro-cult around the 1958 novel by Oakley Hall titled Warlock. Author Pynchon used to frequently attend the lectures delivered by Vladimir Nabokov, who used to teach literature at the Cornell University. Nabokov ha said that he did not have any memory about author Pynchon at that time, but his wife Vera, who used to grade the papers from Nabokov’s class has said that she remembered the distinct handwriting of author Pynchon as a mixture of cursive and printed letters. In the year 1958, Pynchon collaborated with one of his Cornell classmates named Kirkpatrick Sale for writing the science fiction musical titled ‘Minstrel Island’. This musical portrayed the dystopian future in which IBM is now ruling the world. Author Pynchon received his Bachelor of Arts degree in the year 1959.

One of the most successful standalone novels written by author Thomas Pynchon was released under the title ‘Gravity’s Rainbow’. It was released in the year 2006 by the Penguin Book publishers. The story of this book begins with the falling of the secret V-2 rocket bomb made by the Germans in London. After the incident, the British Intelligence Agency comes across a map of the city depicting the sexual conquests of Lieutenant Tyrone Slothrop of the United States Army, which corresponds to the map of the impact sites of V-2. Due to these implications, Slothrop goes on an amazing journey all over the war-stricken Europe in search of the mysterious rocket named Rocket 00000. The events that follow in the novel show a comic extravaganza, which has been praised by The New Republic as an accomplished and profound American novel after the end of the World War II.

The other successful standalone novel written by author Thomas Pynchon was published under the title ‘Mason & Dixon’. It was released in the year 1997 by the Picador publishers. This book’s story revolves around the lives of the main protagonists named Jeremiah Dixon and Charles Mason. The central plot of this novel tells the story of the real life British surveyors named Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, who are well known running the boundary line between Maryland and Pennsylvania. This boundary line is popularly known as the ‘Mason-Dixon Line’. Bestselling Pynchon has tried to re-imagine the hard work of the two British surveyors and has depicted it in this novel. He has purposely intermingled the plot of the book with the biographies, fantasy, speculation, history, outright fabrication, and the legend of Dixon and Mason. The story that author Pynchon has mentioned in the book is also based on Rev, Wicks Cherry Coke’s focal point, who is depicted as a clergyman of some dubious orthodoxy. Cherry Coke tries to divert and entertain his extended family during a cold evening of December. His intentions as described by author Pynchon is to partly amuse his family and partly maintain his coveted status in the house as a guest.