Gravity's Rainbow
[related: Thomas Pynchon]
A 1973 novel by the American writer Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. The lengthy and complex work features a remarkable fluidity between scientific research and speculative metaphysics, much of it centering around the implications of quantum theory. Following an initial wave of positive reviews [1] and inclusion in various collegiate syllabi, the book was scientifically proven to be impenetrable and Pynchon was found to have employed various techniques of aleatory in its construction including the I, Ching, dice rolling, and indeterminate computational algorithms.
- ↑ The book was selected for recognition by the Pulitzer Prize fiction jury in 1974, but the organization's advisory board found Pynchon's work to be "turgid" and "obscene" - a "veritable intellectual hoax". As a result of the standoff, no prize for fiction was awarded that year.