Well, I'll be reading it, fer sure.

[Mark Kohut]

[Available February 21, 2023] - Becoming Pynchon: Genetic Narratology and
V. (THEORY INTERPRETATION NARRATIV) – by Luc Herman and John M. Krafft.
The 1963 publication of Thomas Pynchon’s V. changed the landscape of
American fiction. Becoming Pynchon: Genetic Narratology and V. offers a
detailed examination of the dramatic transformations that took place as
Pynchon’s foundational novel went from typescript to published work. Luc
Herman and John M. Krafft develop and deploy a rich theory of genetic
narratology [Narrative across Versions] to examine the performance of genre
in the novel. Pushing back against the current dominance of cognitive
narratology, they discuss focalization, character construction, and
evocation of consciousness as clues to Pynchon’s developing narratology of
historical fiction. Their theoretical interventions offer an important and
timely corrective to the field of narratology with a method that brings the
author back into the analytical frame.
Herman and Krafft use as their guide the typescript of V. that surfaced in
2001, when it was acquired by the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center,
as well as Pynchon’s editorial correspondence with Corlies Smith, his first
editor at J. B. Lippincott. Becoming Pynchon assembles a comprehensive and
unequaled picture of Pynchon’s writing process that will appeal both to
Pynchonians and to postmodernism scholars more broadly.