ellauri069.html on line 483: An article recently came out in the LA Times about Pynchon’s Great American Novel. The article begins by stating that Mason and Dixon is actually the most obvious candidate for the Great American Novel, and it instead suggests that Gravity’s Rainbow is perhaps the Great European Novel. The article then questions whether or not the Great American Novel even exists, and if it does if it is of a singular form or if it takes on many forms at once. After considering this question, the article finally claims that the Great American Novel is actually made up of all of Pynchon’s works fused together “into one epic Pynchoverse.” The Great American Novel certainly does not need to take place in America, but still many will argue that Gravity’s Rainbow by itself can never be considered as the Great American Novel because of its non-American setting and its wide array of characters. This is definitely debatable, but I do enjoy the idea of a “Pynchoverse” or a Pynchon Compilation being considered as the true Great American Novel. That being said, I do think most readers and Pynchonerds would undoubtedly say that Gravity's Rainbow is the Greatest Pynchon Novel.
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