This article both maps and analyses the representation of the Balkans in the work of Thomas Pynchon. It focuses primarily on the sustained treatment of diplomacy, empire and violence in the region that forms a key component of Against the Day (2006), but also traces how his earlier fiction is marked by this distinct zone of geo-political influence. The argument proceeds by situating Pynchon's portrait of the Balkans in a broader discursive context, placing special emphasis on the cultural/intellectual impact of the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia and on Maria Todorova's groundbreaking work on 'balkanism' (a relative, in some senses, of Said's 'Orientalism). I explore how the representation of the Balkans, as an imaginative, mythic and material space, can be used to deepen our understanding of Pynchon's political sensibilities. Using a range of examples (from Balkan ethnomusicology to the depiction of the First Balkan War), the article demonstrates how an uncompromisingly complex vision of hegemony, resistance and the Western psyche emerges from Pynchon's novel. Drawing on the insights of Slavoj Zizek, I argue that Pynchon's lavish engagement with Balkan history and culture is not merely an example of the meta-fictional whimsy so often cited as a dominant characteristic of his work. Rather, it can be read in terms of 'committed' critical impulse that forces us to re-conceive of European power relations, as well as entrenched notions of liberal tolerance and multiculturalism. (Author abstract)