The totalizing genre: William Gaddis, Thomas Pynchon and the encyclopedic novel in the United States.

William Gaddis's The Recognitions and Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow are often referred to as the two most important examples of the post-war "Encyclopedic Novel" in The United States. They succeed in creating an encyclopedic illusion of totality, but simultaneously undermine this totality. As such, they can be connected to Denis Diderot's definition of the encyclopedia as a dynamic delineation of knowledge. Is it, therefore, useful to try and classify both novels within the confines of a generic definition? Since both novels focus on the dynamic between the constant construction and deconstruction of totality, they rather make us reconsider the validity of all totalizing systems.

Keywords:AMERICAN LITERATURE, UNITED STATES, ENCYCLOPEDIC NOVEL

Disciplines:Language studies, Literary studies, Theory and methodology of language studies, Theory and methodology of linguistics, Theory and methodology of literary studies, Other languages and literary studies