THE SPATIO-TEMPORAL POINT OF VIEW IN THOMAS PYNCHON–S SHORT STORIES

Abstract

The paper discusses the application of a plane within Boris Uspensky–s system of analysis, which focuses on the spatio-temporal point of view as one of the total of four levels on which this narrative technique occurs in an artistic text. The complexity of composition and difficulties in reading have followed this author since the beginning of his career, which is confirmed by his first published shorter texts, especially the short story „Entropy,” even nowadays selected for anthologies of American fiction. The paper attempts to facilitate the reading of one layer of Pynchon–s complex prose by closely tracking the narrator–s shift in spatial position, less so in time. The narrator in space: a) does not have to attach to any character, b) can approach one, or c) a group of them, apart from the fact that the spatial point of view can occasionally be also coupled with the ideological, which can be construed as the narrator–s agreement or disagreement with the character–s opinion. The temporal point of view is mostly accomplished as external (the narrator does not inhabit the same time as the character), but there are several examples which could serve as the illustrations of the internal point of view (the narrator exists in the same time as the character).