Thomas Pynchon 's willingness to address the most important cultural and social issues makes him an important writer. He depicts the plight of contemporary humanity caught in, rather than sustained by, a culture that celebrates technology and death rather than humanity and life. Pynchon is a novelist of ideas and a practitioner of Menippean satire, a rich tradition that includes such masterpieces as Candide, Gulliver's Travels and Gargantua and Pantagruel . Pynchon 's erudition helps him create this kind of work, which dramatizes ideas rather than faithfully imitating everyday reality. In addition, he effectively uses sophisticated literary techniques, particularly in Gravity's Rainbow, which, according to a growing number of critics, is one of the most important American novels.

Pynchon 's desire for privacy at least saves him from being lionized, interviewed, and otherwise distracted from writing. At most it reinforces his monklike dedication to his calling, so that he...