Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr., an American novelist and MacArthur Fellow, is noted for his dense and complex novels. His work, fiction and nonfiction, encompass a vast array of subject matter, genres and themes, including but not limited to the fields of history, music, science, and mathematics. After publishing several short stories in the late 1950s and early 1960s, he began writing the novels for which he is best