American · b. 1937
Thomas Pynchon writes novels that define postmodernism. "Gravity's Rainbow" (1973) won the National Book Award and was unanimously recommended for the Pulitzer—which the advisory board refused to award, calling it "unreadable." "The Crying of Lot 49" (1966) introduced his methods: conspiracies, entropy, paranoia, and more paranoia. Pynchon has lived reclusively for sixty years. His influence on American fiction is vast.