《性本恶》是托马斯品钦第三部以加利福尼亚为背景的城市小说,它对洛杉矶“黑色小说”的戏仿往往让读者低估了这部作品的严肃性。其实它继承了以钱德勒、凯恩为代表的“黑色小说”对于洛杉矶神话的追寻传统,但同时又反映了60年代这个后现代城市特有的气质。作为60年代南加州嬉皮士及反文化运动的重要亲历者,品钦在作品中带上这一时代和地域的烙印并不奇怪。事实上,出生于纽约的他已被研究者们视为“南 Sex and the Evil is Thomas Pynchon’s third urban novel based on the background of California. His parody of Los Angeles ”black novels“ often leads readers to underestimate the seriousness of the work. In fact, it inherits the tracing tradition of Los Angeles mythology represented by Chandler and Kane, but at the same time it reflects the peculiar temperament of this post-modern city in the 1960s. As an important witness to the hippies and anti-cultural movements of Southern California in the 1960s, it is not surprising that Pynchon brought the imprint of this era and region to his works. In fact, born in New York, he has been considered by researchers as ”South