A Thomas Pynchon Bibliography
of Secondary Materials
Frequently Asked Questions
[Main Query Page][Pynchon Notes Query Page]
Q.What does this bibliography contain?
A.This bibliography contains the identifcation of secondary materials about [mainly the works of] Thomas Pynchon. It does not contain information about the different editions of Pynchon's work, the many translations etc.. The definition of 'secondary materials' is not limited to criticism in book-length studies and academic and literary journals, but also includes reviews and other information: conferences, popular press, multimedia [from broadcasts to songs], artistic pieces, internet resources and trivia.
QWhat is a subject?
A.Every item is linked to a subject which is basically one of Pynchon's writings. A 'writing' is anything from the earliest writings in Pynchon's high school gazette to the major novels.That's why there are a few more subjects: 'Early Work', which includes 'Mortality and Mercy in Vienna' but excludes the stories collected in 'Slow Learner', and 'Non Fiction'. Together with items that can be linked to 'Slow Learner', the application generates in a query a new 'dummy' subject: 'Minor Works'.
Q.When is a subject classified as 'General'?
A.There are three possibilities:
- An item cannot be reduced to only one of the works;
- An item is about Pynchon's life;
- An item is a general document; or
- It was not possible to determine an exact subject because we have not seen this item.
Q.When is an item classified as 'Online'?
A.Only when an item is accessible to the general public. This excludes 2 main categories:
- Web sites that need a subscription, regardless whether this subscription is free or not; and
- E- journals or journals made available online that need a subscription from a university, a library or another institution.
Q.What publication date is used?
A.The publication date of most items can be easily identified. There are however, 2 difficulties:
- The actual publication date of a journal is after the date that is printed on the publication. This is not unrare for academical journals. Both dates are registered [and shown], but the printed date takes precedence over the actual date.
- Many Ph.D. theses are summarised in the Dissertations Abstracts International index [DAI]. This happens after the actual presentation of the dissertation; differences can be as much as 3 years. Presentation and index year are both registered, but given the difficulties of obtaining a copy of a dissertation, the DAI index year takes precedence over the presentation year.
Q.What is the 'history'of an item?
A.Also here, several possibilities:
- A lecture is presented at a conference and published afterwards;
- An article is reprinted without any changes;
- An article is translated; and/or
- An article is revised and/or expanded, and published again.
In all these cases [and as far as it has been registered], the information on a published item refers to the original.
Q.What kind of theses do I see?
A.We strive to include only Ph.D. theses, doctorates and other dissertiations from the third university cycle. An MA/BA/licenciate is included in the very rare case that it resulted in a book, or when it has a particular influence, meaning it has been quoted in other secondary items.