Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. (/ˈpɪntʃɒn/,[1] commonly /-tʃən/;[2] born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist. A MacArthur Fellow, he is noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, genres and themes, including history, music, science, and mathematics. For Gravity's Rainbow, Pynchon won the 1973 U.S. National Book Award for Fiction.[3]