V

a novel by Thomas Pynchon, published in 1963. Like many of his other works of fiction, V is structured by a search (or quest), here for the mysterious being ‘V’ which, while having some of the attributes of a woman, also has metal dentures and detachable feet. The novel has a wide historical range, encompassing events from late nineteenth-century and contemporary America, largely through two characters, Stencil and Benny Profane, who occupy, in effect, different historical times though they are brought together and travel to Malta at the time of the Suez crisis. The plotting is complex and defies brief summary, but the novel reveals many of Pynchon's characteristic qualities, notably his fictional inventiveness and his immense resources of satire and parody.