Thomas Pynchon

[Exodus]

I'm reading a novel ("V") by this author, and he is absolutely brilliant.

This is my favorite paragraph from the book. It may give you an idea of his writing style:

If alignment with the inanimate is the mark of a Bad Guy, Schoenmaker at least made a sympathetic beginning. But at some point along his way there occurred a shift in outlook so subtle that even Profane, who was unusually sensitive that way, probably couldn't have detected it. He was kept going by hatred for Halidom and perhaps a fading love for Godolphin. These had given rise to what is called a "sense of mission"--something so tenuous it has to be fed more solid fare than either hatred or love. So it came to be sustained, plausibly enough, by a number of bloodless theories about the "idea" of the plastic surgeon. Having heard his vocation on the embattled wind, Schoenmaker's dedication was toward repairing the havoc wrought by agencies outside his own sphere of responsibility. Others--politicians and machines--carried on wars; others--perhaps human machines--condemned his patients to the ravages of acquired syphilis; others--on the highways, in the factories--undid the work of nature with automobiles, milling machines, other instruments of civilian disfigurement. What could he do toward eliminating the causes? They existed, formed a body of things-as-they-are; he came to be afflicted with a conservative laziness. It was social awareness of a sort, but with boundaries and interfaces which made it less than the catholic rage filling him that night in the barracks with the M.O. It was in short a deterioration of purpose; a decay.

I oscillated on his type, but I am fairly sure now. You can consult Wikipedia for more information, but I'm more interested in your impression based on the writing style. I will say it reminds me of Catch-22, above all.

Another link from Wikipedia on the typical characteristics of his writing.

[vague]

I just finished Mason and Dixon. I agree, brilliant. One of the best writers I've read. I'm curious, what type do you have in mind?

[Exodus]

I had decided on ENFj, but ENTp seems possible too. Certainly Fe > Fi. It's funny that I'm getting a response from an INFp; the only other person I know who is familiar with Pynchon is an INFp.

I finally finished V. and I plan to read Gravity's Rainbow.

[Exodus]

Bump.

Still not sure about this. Any guesses? Have people read his books?

Maybe IEI is better. Idk, I haven't read his books in forever.

[pinkcanary]

...

[inconnu]

He is indeed absolutely brilliant. And I can totally understand why a LII appreciates his style of writing, both extremely complex and "risky", yet flawlessly calculated.
The vast amount of topics involved, metaphors and reflections.

His way of writing makes me think alpha NT, but the topics and his personal life are very beta NF. Looks extroverted on those pictures.

[Absurd]

Didn't know korpsey wrote a book.

[strrrng]

I'm 100 pages into gravity's rainbow. SEE

[lynn]

he's a good example of so/sx writing style

soc/sx: The word “fantastical” comes to mind. Lots of virtuosity and trills, and often removed from the real world. One is whirled away by the dazzling fairies of their colorful imagination. Can be too rich in imagery for their own good. Sustained dramatic power due to their knowledge of interpersonal dynamics.

[Jake]

INTj

[Exodus]

Here is a good article that makes some observations about his personality:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/inhe...nge-your-life/

In the pure sense, Pynchon is a historical novelist, setting almost all his books in pre-contemporary periods associated with great transfers of power.

What unites the time periods in which the novels are set – and forms one of Pynchon’s most characteristic running themes – is the repression of a counterculture or a vision of freedom.

...we might call it the little guy against the Man.

Pynchon is no starry-eyed old hippie (or not entirely) but his novels ache with a kind of thwarted nostalgia for alternative Americas that never came to pass

"There is no avoiding time," Pynchon writes in Inherent Vice: "the sea of time, the sea of memory and forgetfulness, the years of promise, gone and unrecoverable, of the land almost allowed to claim its better destiny, only to have the claim jumped by evildoers known all too well, and taken instead and held hostage to the future we must live in now forever."

If the settings are historical, though, the register definitely isn’t: swinging ad lib between slangy slapstick and imposing gravitas

No Pynchonian hero or heroine is free from these musings; the author’s genius is to muddy the waters by making them all batty paranoiacs as well.

Other points:

-highly reclusive
-(deliberately?) makes his novels complicated and difficult
-they are temporally complicated, weaving together many different strands: "the threads multiply, the outcomes unspool, and the reader who hopes to draw them all together may usually find herself in a paranoid stew as thick as the ones that obsess the protagonists"

IEI seems most likely.

[para]

IEI.

[Alive]

I lean more towards ILI, definitely Ni base.

he worked as a technical editor for boeing. hard to imagine a type with Te as vulnerable function choosing such a career.

"From the Vulture article about Pynchon's life prior to the publication of Bleeding Edge, Pynchon was described as ornery on the job. He was apparently not a guy who talked much but some coworkers were discussing a book they'd read and he jumped in at that.

According to various sources, Pynchon was hired by a friend to work at Boeing as a technical writer, writing safety articles and stuff about the Bomarc missile system."