Tony Tanner provides a brief, comprehensive introduction to his work. Against the background of Pynchon the man, this book, originally published in 1982, examines in detail his early short stories (some of which are not easily accessible) and offers a guide to the reading of his novels, , and . Many of Pynchon’s recurrent themes, from entropy and information theory to his interest in the operations and divisions of power in the world'since the Second World War, are considered. Finally, Tony Tanner places Pynchon and his work in a broader cultural and literary context.