Yes, very nearly citied by name in Gravity's Rainbow* and [as far as I can tell] central to TRP's themes of disenfranchisement/ disinheritance, flight and [most important] heresy. William Pynchon was the founder of Springfield Mass. On Dec 15, 2008, at 6:54 AM, Elaine Bell wrote: > William Pynchon ancestor of Thomas? *as William Slothrop.