sara@mhuxj.UUCP (TRIGS) (03/08/86)
*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE *** A friend of mine was an intimate of Nabokov in Geneva in the early 1970's and reports that Nabokov hated Pynchon. He reportedly referred to GRAVITY'S RAINBOW as a "comic book" and "trash." The mention of Pynchon's name on the occasion in question led to an even longer string of insults which I cannot now remember in detail. In any event, it seems unlikely (the obvious stylistic differences aside) that Nabokov and Pynchon could have been the same person.
gsmith@brahms.BERKELEY.EDU (Gene Ward Smith) (03/14/86)
In article <362@mhuxj.UUCP> sara@mhuxj.UUCP (TRIGS) writes: >A friend of mine was an intimate of Nabokov in Geneva in the early 1970's >and reports that Nabokov hated Pynchon. He reportedly referred to >GRAVITY'S RAINBOW as a "comic book" and "trash." The mention of Pynchon's >name on the occasion in question led to an even longer string of insults >which I cannot now remember in detail. In any event, it seems unlikely >(the obvious stylistic differences aside) that Nabokov and Pynchon could >have been the same person. Of course, if Nabokov had made up Pynchon in the same way that he made up The Great American Poet, John Slade, then this would be the attitude to adopt. I think the crude, "comic book" character of GR is what redeems it (if anything does). By the way, "smiley face" on the theory that Nabokov invented Pynchon, in case anybody really was wondering. ucbvax!brahms!gsmith Gene Ward Smith/UCB Math Dept/Berkeley CA 94720 ucbvax!weyl!gsmith "DUMB problem!! DUMB!!!" -- Robert L. Forward
sara@mhuxj.UUCP (TRIGS) (03/18/86)
> In article <362@mhuxj.UUCP> sara@mhuxj.UUCP (TRIGS) writes: > > >A friend of mine was an intimate of Nabokov in Geneva in the early 1970's > >and reports that Nabokov hated Pynchon. He reportedly referred to > >GRAVITY'S RAINBOW as a "comic book" and "trash." The mention of Pynchon's > >name on the occasion in question led to an even longer string of insults > >which I cannot now remember in detail. In any event, it seems unlikely > >(the obvious stylistic differences aside) that Nabokov and Pynchon could > >have been the same person. > > > Of course, if Nabokov had made up Pynchon in the same way that he ry is that Thomas Pynchon doesn't exist but that the fellow who wrote his books has the same name. Marcantonio Crespi 47 Anderson Road Bernardsville, N.J.07924 > made up The Great American Poet, John Slade, then this would be the > attitude to adopt. I think the crude, "comic book" character of GR > is what redeems it (if anything does). By the way, "smiley face" on > the theory that Nabokov invented Pynchon, in case anybody really was > wondering. > > > ucbvax!brahms!gsmith Gene Ward Smith/UCB Math Dept/Berkeley CA 94720 > ucbvax!weyl!gsmith "DUMB problem!! DUMB!!!" -- Robert L. Forward