As I recall, Helen DeWitt's THE LAST SAMURAI provoked a lot of Pynchon comparisons. Googling her name with TRP's, I encountered this survey of literature's shining lights: http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itsv/0403/ijse/birkerts.htm Here's the NYT take on LAST SAMURAI: http://partners.nytimes.com/books/00/10/15/reviews/001015.15goldbet.html