Graham Benton

Unruly Narratives: the Anarchist Dimension in the Novels of Thomas Pynchon Graham Benton

This study traces anarchist discourse through the novels of Thomas Pynchon. Not only does Pynchon create specific anarchist and crypto-anarchist characters and agencies, but he also treats with suspicion many state-sponsored institutions that serve to maintain and regulate social order. This anti-authoritarian stance is reproduced on a structural level: Pynchon's formal techniques correspond to an anarchist aesthetic which reflects a sustained skepticism toward efforts to map mastering codes onto the texts. While Pynchon frequently invokes a concept of anarchism as a powerful mechanism for social engineering, as a utopic horizon, and as a valued political philosophy, he is also wary of fully endorsing an anarchist position because he recognizes such a position to be open to any number of violent corruptions and betrayals. Pynchon teases out the possibilities that a progressive anarchist stand may proffer, but also makes a serious contribution to anarchist discourse by amplifying and interrogating the flaws inherent in anarchist theory.