GR: In the Zone....it seems the concept of The Zone is/was

[Mark Kohut]

a solid science fiction trope, a burgeoning one, even as GR was being
written. Ballard, the Strugatsky Brothers (72),
 Harrison and others. Reliable Marxist critic Jameson picked up on
it.[Seems such a concept let some leftists criticize social reality and get
read
in a genre many Leftists dismissed. Some say]

  Here is a section from
a book which locates Pynchon as perhaps the touchstone of postwar meanings
with his Zone. No one's
in Kansas anymore.....[I love this guy who says, "reality is good to think
with" as he creates his real "fantasy" zone.]

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Gothic_Science_Fiction_1980_2010/2moiuQaoq94C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=What+is+The+Zone+in+Gravity%27s+Rainbow%3F&pg=PA25&printsec=frontcover