Intertextuality and Thomas Pynchon’s EntropyIntertextuality and Thomas Pynchon’s Entropy

Abstract

This paper discusses relevant aspects raised by Linda Hutcheon in her famous book A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction, and aspects of Thomas Pynchon’s work that illustrate intertextuality through the discussion of a scientific concept in a literary work – entropy. The view towards intertextuality has changed since the 1969 essay of Julia Kristeva. The exploration of scientific visions of the world is a major concern for Thomas Pynchon. Entropy has become an important metaphor for the contemporary world’s tendency towards redundancy and incoherence. Pynchon’s vision is revealed through his complicated plots, his idealistic characters, and his questioning narrative voice. The short story “Entropy” and aspects of the novel “V” are further discussed in the paper. The image of literature as a network of texts was intensified by Derrida’s argument about the “impossibility of living outside the text”.