more on Pynchon, plastic, and pop culture

[Meikle, Jeffrey L]

At the risk of sounding my own horn (much muted by covid isolation), I'd like to add a source on Pynchon and plastic to go with the German article from 2017 posted by Kai Frederik Lorentzen. My book American Plastic: A Cultural History, from 1995, mostly covers the scientific, technological, commercial, design, and marketing expansion of plastics from the late 19th century to the end of the 20th. There's much on the symbolism of plastics and plasticity throughout, but the final chapter, "Beyond Plastic: The Culture of Synthesis," explores metaphorical meanings of the words and the concepts they define. One section of that chapter, "A Chemist Whose Molecules Are Words" (pp. 293-299), is about Pynchon, plastic, and Gravity's Rainbow. My book went out of print a couple years ago, but there are lots of used copies for sale, and during these days of closed libraries, you can find a free pdf to download from one of those infamous Russian websites if you do some careful searching. I used to be a frequent contributer to the list but this is my first post in ages. I'm glad you're all still at it.