POST-POSTMODERNIST SENSIBILITY IN THOMAS PYNCHON'S BLEEDING EDGE.

The paper examines Thomas Pynchon's latest novel, "Bleeding Edge", through the lens of points of convergence with and divergence from the writer's earlier aesthetic practice and thematic scope, arguing that it represents the most direct expression of the post-postmodernist sensibility that has increasingly permeated his later fiction. More specifically, the essay discusses the ways in which the novel reflects the tension between a stylistic, residual postmodernism, and the emotional seriousness inherent in its treatment of such thematic concerns as the importance of communal bonds and the question of trust as an essential foundation for any form of commonality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]