Pynchon’s Creative Misuse of Entropy

Abstract

The article argues that David Letzler’s critique of Thomas Pynchon’s “Entropy,” while accurate in some respects, is misguided in its attempt to close down interpretations of the short story that focus on its use of entropy, both in the field of Information Theory and Thermodynamics. While acknowledging that Pynchon got things wrong, the article asks critics to explore how Pynchon tries to manipulate his lack of knowledge by situating what he thought he knew in contexts not normally associated with Thermodynamics or Information Theory.