Pynchon & SF & Philip K. Dick

[Nigel E. Richardson]

It's hard to guess What SF Pynchon Read and the effect it has had on
his work, but I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't read the magazine
FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION in the late 50s (when it was publishing a
lot of literate and uncliched material that people with a knee-jerk
reaction against SF might enjoy). In particular I'd suggest Avram
Davidson and Theodore Sturgeon's stories. Also some of Fred Pohl and
Alfred Bester's early work. Maybe Robert Sheckley too. I'm having to
be a bit vague here as it's about 10 years since I've read any of
these, but I'm assuming that if Pynchon read SF in the late 50s he
would have read the good stuff - and this was the good stuff. 

There's also Philip K. Dick, of course, whose books now carry a
comparison to Pynchon from a Village Voice reviewer. His
preoccupations were very similar to Pynchon's: conspiracies,
paranoia, entropy, drugs, epiphanies, music, hobos, racism, Nixon,
WW2, young girls....Ocassionally Rudy Rucker and Paul Di Fillipo (hi 
dude) have attempted to blend the influences of the two together....

I haven't seen it mentioned here, but GRAVITY'S RAINBOW was runner up 
to Arthur C. Clarke's RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA in the annual Nebula Awards for 
best novel, as voted for by the Science Fiction Writers of America.


---------------------------------------------------------
Nigel E. Richardson
nigel at impolex.demon.co.uk 
http://metro.turnpike.net/N/ner/