special session for MLA 2014: Pynchon at the Bleeding Edge

August 20, 2013 · by · in Uncategorized

Thursday, 9 January

134. Pynchon at the Bleeding Edge: A Discussion of Thomas Pynchon’s New Novel

5:15–6:30 p.m.

A special session

Presiding: Cornelius Collins, Fordham Univ., Bronx

Speakers: Paul Benzon, Temple Univ., Philadelphia; Samuel Cohen, Univ. of Missouri, Columbia; David Guyland Cowart, Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia; Amy J. Elias, Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville; Jeffrey Severs, Univ. of British Columbia; Alison Shonkwiler, Rhode Island Coll.

September 2013 will see the publication of Bleeding Edge, a novel by Thomas Pynchon, set in New York City’s tech start-up sector between the crash of the dot-com bubble in 2000 and the attacks of September 11th in 2001. At this roundtable, scholars of contemporary literature present a range of approaches and share their early reactions, impressions, and suggestions for interpreting this new text.

keywords: Pynchon, novel, contemporary, politics, technology