Writing (at) the End: Thomas Pynchon’s Bleeding Edge

In work spanning six decades, Thomas Pynchon has depicted a plural world reduced to mechanization, automation, and control. In doing so he has done more than any American author to reveal to readers the posthuman future. This essay seeks Pynchon’s human(e) response to these eschatological forces. It...

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Autor principal:	Brian Chappell
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN FR
Publicado:	Association Française d'Etudes Américaines 2017
Materias:	Thomas Pynchon Bleeding Edge postmodernism posthumanism ontological poetics dialogism History America E-F America E11-143
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/ced002a82dfc455d8ab242f0493f82e5
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:ced002a82dfc455d8ab242f0493f82e52021-12-02T10:14:36ZWriting (at) the End: Thomas Pynchon’s Bleeding Edge1765-276610.4000/transatlantica.8374https://doaj.org/article/ced002a82dfc455d8ab242f0493f82e52017-09-01T00:00:00Zhttp://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/8374https://doaj.org/toc/1765-2766In work spanning six decades, Thomas Pynchon has depicted a plural world reduced to mechanization, automation, and control. In doing so he has done more than any American author to reveal to readers the posthuman future. This essay seeks Pynchon’s human(e) response to these eschatological forces. It does so by examining how Pynchon concludes his works. Referring to Peter Rabinowitz’s theory of endings, this essay argues that at the conclusion of his novels, Pynchon takes on a voice that speaks more urgently than the pluralism and polyphony that permeate his pages. This move from noise to clarity is a move from spiritualism to spirituality. Even though possibilities are diminishing, and the end seems near, there remains the opportunity for communion, shared vulnerability, family, and friendship. This essay focuses on how this move transpires in Bleeding Edge, a novel that presents, potentially, the culmination of historical-eschatological movements toward reduction and domination. But the novel concludes with an extended meditation on family love and female friendship, in a way that conveys Pynchon’s source of hope. Focusing on his endings reveals an enduring humanism at the core of Pynchon’s work that can fuel further study in the age of terror, surveillance, domination, and dehumanization.Brian ChappellAssociation Française d'Etudes AméricainesarticleThomas PynchonBleeding Edgepostmodernismposthumanismontological poeticsdialogismHistory AmericaE-FAmericaE11-143ENFRTransatlantica : Revue d'Études Américaines, Vol 2 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN FR
topic	Thomas Pynchon Bleeding Edge postmodernism posthumanism ontological poetics dialogism History America E-F America E11-143
spellingShingle	Thomas Pynchon Bleeding Edge postmodernism posthumanism ontological poetics dialogism History America E-F America E11-143 Brian Chappell Writing (at) the End: Thomas Pynchon’s Bleeding Edge
description	In work spanning six decades, Thomas Pynchon has depicted a plural world reduced to mechanization, automation, and control. In doing so he has done more than any American author to reveal to readers the posthuman future. This essay seeks Pynchon’s human(e) response to these eschatological forces. It does so by examining how Pynchon concludes his works. Referring to Peter Rabinowitz’s theory of endings, this essay argues that at the conclusion of his novels, Pynchon takes on a voice that speaks more urgently than the pluralism and polyphony that permeate his pages. This move from noise to clarity is a move from spiritualism to spirituality. Even though possibilities are diminishing, and the end seems near, there remains the opportunity for communion, shared vulnerability, family, and friendship. This essay focuses on how this move transpires in Bleeding Edge, a novel that presents, potentially, the culmination of historical-eschatological movements toward reduction and domination. But the novel concludes with an extended meditation on family love and female friendship, in a way that conveys Pynchon’s source of hope. Focusing on his endings reveals an enduring humanism at the core of Pynchon’s work that can fuel further study in the age of terror, surveillance, domination, and dehumanization.
format	article
author	Brian Chappell
author_facet	Brian Chappell
author_sort	Brian Chappell
title	Writing (at) the End: Thomas Pynchon’s Bleeding Edge
title_short	Writing (at) the End: Thomas Pynchon’s Bleeding Edge
title_full	Writing (at) the End: Thomas Pynchon’s Bleeding Edge
title_fullStr	Writing (at) the End: Thomas Pynchon’s Bleeding Edge
title_full_unstemmed	Writing (at) the End: Thomas Pynchon’s Bleeding Edge
title_sort	writing (at) the end: thomas pynchon’s bleeding edge
publisher	Association Française d'Etudes Américaines
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/ced002a82dfc455d8ab242f0493f82e5
work_keys_str_mv	AT brianchappell writingattheendthomaspynchonsbleedingedge
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Writing (at) the End: Thomas Pynchon’s Bleeding Edge

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