Analysis Of Vineland And Robert Coover s Dramatic...

Abstract The present paper traces the origins of Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland and Robert Coover’s dramatic monologue Rip Awake to Washington Irving’s short story â€Å"Rip Van Winkle† and attempts to analyze both adaptations. Though Irving’s short story dates back to an earlier time period in the American landscape, it nonetheless forms the foundation of both Pynchon’s and Coover’s work. Though Irving’s writing style has often been called exceedingly British sounding, his narratives are steeped in American history and the American way of life. Both Thomas Pynchon and Robert Coover on the other hand belong to the postmodern age and deal with experimental fiction in America. If Pynchon’s fiction is described as encyclopedic, labyrinthine and convoluted then Coover’s is termed otherworldly and surreal. Despite the fact that most critics see both Pynchon and Cooveras being as dissimilar as chalk and cheese, they nonetheless use experimental forms and techniques that are distinctly postmodern as the present study will depict. Keywords Comparison, postmodern themes, Awakening, Disorientation, Crows, Blue jays, Narrative style, Familiarity and Reconstruction Introduction Washington Irving (1789-1859) was a cultural and diplomatic ambassador to Europe who went to publish his first work, Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon in the year 1820 using Geoffrey Crayon as his pseudonym.This work contained his two most popular short stories, â€Å"Rip Van Winkle† and â€Å"The Legend of Sleepy