irony WAS RE: is Pynchon a recluse?

[Doug Millison]

dramatic irony
in literature, a plot device in which the audience's or reader's knowledge
of events or individuals surpasses that of the characters. The words and
actions of the characters therefore take on a different meaning for the
audience or reader than they have for the play's characters. This may happen
when, for example, a character reacts in an inappropriate or foolish way or
when a character lacks self-awareness and thus acts under false assumptions.

"dramatic irony" Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 
<http://www.members.eb.com/bol/topic?eu=137167&sctn=1> 
[Accessed 15 June 2001]. 

Malign:
I've never thought of Pynchon particularly as an ironist, would never have 
thought to describe him as such.  Philip Roth, Martin Amis--Nabokov, 
surely--but not Pynchon.