Pynchon's back catalogue

[Doug Millison]

One big novel is what he's writing, that's the way I read them, based  
on multiple readings (solo and in this group) and research. I suspect  
TRP had a vision early on, that has informed the creation of his  
novels almost from the beginning.  And I think he's consciously gone  
about creating characters and story lines that connect across the  
books, a sort of progressive knotting into, you might say. Which is  
not to say that he has been immune to adding to or otherwise modifying  
his plan as he has gone along, and coming up with stuff out of the  
blue.  I believe that most artists are opportunists, if only at the  
creative problem-solving level and no other, and I expect TRP is no  
exception.