This book brings together nine original essays from Pynchon scholars around the world whose work furthers the debate concerning the nature of perceived shifts in the sensibility style and subjectmatter of Pynchons fiction from The Crying of Lot 49 to Mason amp Dixon. Of particular concern is the complex relationship between Pynchons challenging and evolving uvre and notions of postmodernity which this volumes focus on Pynchons most recent fiction helps bring uptodate. Five of the collections essays examine the writers achievement in Mason amp Dixon and were first presented in 1998 as papers at Kings College London as part of International Pynchon Week. The volume includes contributions from renowned Pynchon scholars such as David Seed David Thoreen and Francisco Collado Rodrquez and offers perspectives on Pynchons achievement in The Crying of Lot 49 Vineland and Mason amp Dixon which view those works in relation to a fascinating variety of subjects such as hybridity mapmaking and representation the work of Marshall McLuhan American comic traditions metafiction madness in American fiction science and ethics. Reconfirmed throughout is the ethical seriousness of a writer who remains one of American literatures most fascinating important and ever elusive figures.