ramin@rtgvax.UUCP (Pantagruel) (02/22/86)
I received this letter a few days ago after making an inquiry about
Pynchon fans. I only include it here because I enjoyed going through
the hops it went through... I'm still mystified it got to me...
I know it probably doesn't belong in net.books but I suspect
Pynchon would have approved...
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Date: Tue, 18 Feb 86 13:57:32 est
From: leadsv!cae780!amdcad!decwrl!decvax!bellcore!tll (Trudy L Leonhard)
Message-Id: <8602181857.AA12562@blade.bellcore.com>
To: ramin@rtgvax.uucp
Subject: Re: Thomas Pynchon
References: <25@rtgvax.UUCP>
Status: RO
Please enlighten me. Who is thomas Pynchon?
Trudy
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Thomas Pynchon is a rather mysterious figure posing as a respectable
author... His books to date include "V", "The Crying of Lot 49",
"Gravity's Rainbow", and most recently "Slow Learner"
For the very persistent there is also an article on L.A.'s Watts
floating around...
His major work however is "Gravity's Rainbow" for which he got
a National Book Award (for whatever that's worth). He was somewhat
deliberately overlooked for the Pulitzer the year G.R. came out
(for some rather naughty bits thrown into it)...
I won't try to explain any of his works in any way since putting
his work into a nutshell is too Herculean for any one mailsystem.
Part of the mystique of his work (I think) is his complete physical absence from
the world. Nobody knows who he is or whether he even exists...
There is a Thomas Pynchon who went to school at Columbia and who was
in the Navy, but no records of him were found (I actually heard some
records were misplaced in a freak break-in accident...)
Newsweek once ran a picture of him (at my school even that specific
3 or 4 year old copy of Newsweek disappeared from the stacks!)
A good introduction to his work would be "Crying of Lot 49"
or "Slow Learner" (a collection of early stories). Under no
circumstances should one attempt "Gravity's Rainbow" without first
reading at least one of his short stories... Every single person
I know of who has tried has become discouraged after a few chapters...
"Gravity's Rainbow" is particularly attractive to someone with a technical
background since Pynchon has no inhibitions about the use of
technical jargon from of a German Rocket Launch Sequence to
bad math limericks... (Pynchon studied as an Engineer...)
He also happens to be one of the few contemporary authors who merits
volumes of criticism... I actually saw a West Coast University library
that carried more books ON Pynchon than Pynchon text.
To this day he has been seen by no one but his publisher, and an English
Professor once told me of someone hiring a Private Investigator to
find out who communicated with the publisher and the P.I. found out
even the Publisher's Executive Secretary didn't know who Pynchon was
(and had never heard of the name, presumably due to the
variations in aliases...)
Personally, I treat Pynchon (Gravity's Rainbow in particular) like one
of those warm old dusty bars one finds in a back alley while visiting a
foreign land, where intimacy is inherent and an annual pilgrimage
a personal issue...
The only reason I have mentioned him on the net is because of the
alarming rate of disappearance of warm old dusty foreign bars
and their regular patrons...
= = =
Alias: ramin firoozye | USps: Systems Control Inc.
uucp: ...!shasta \ | 1801 Page Mill Road
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= = =
Standard disclaimer excluded for humanitarian purposes.putnam@steinmetz.UUCP (jefu) (02/25/86)
In article <30@rtgvax.UUCP> ramin@rtgvax.UUCP (Pantagruel) writes: >Thomas Pynchon is a rather mysterious figure posing as a respectable >author... >His major work however is "Gravity's Rainbow" for which he got >a National Book Award (for whatever that's worth). And it is worth mentioning that rather than collect the award himself, he send Professor Irwin Corey (a comic) to collect it for him, as him (um, that is, as i understand it, Corey just stood up, collected the award, pretended to be Pynchon and gave one of his usual monologues). Reports disagreed on how many people really thought it was him. >Part of the mystique of his work (I think) is his complete physical absence from >the world. Nobody knows who he is or whether he even exists... >There is a Thomas Pynchon who went to school at Columbia and who was >in the Navy, but no records of him were found (I actually heard some >records were misplaced in a freak break-in accident...) >Newsweek once ran a picture of him (at my school even that specific >3 or 4 year old copy of Newsweek disappeared from the stacks!) Shades of "Lot 49"! I had heard he went to Cornell and was in the Navy. > ... Under no >circumstances should one attempt "Gravity's Rainbow" without first >reading at least one of his short stories... Every single person >I know of who has tried has become discouraged after a few chapters... I used to regularly buy copies of "Lot 49" in used bookstores to give to people as an introduction to Pynchon. >The only reason I have mentioned him on the net is because of the >alarming rate of disappearance of warm old dusty foreign bars >and their regular patrons... Disappearance is a common motif in Pynchon. But, all this talk about his work neglects to mention that it is all very readable (Ok, i know i already admitted to not finishing "V") and much of it is very funny. After this discussion started, i went to my bookshelves, and picked up "lot 49" to find a quote, read about a paragraph, and found myself on page 1 rereading it for the n-plus-first time. Whew. Maybe its about time to try "V" again. Unlike some authors that attract "literary criticism" Pynchon is very readable, and often very funny. In fact, one of the funniest things i have ever read is in "Gravities Rainbow", about a page of description of a guy eating candy out of politeness and finding it, um, surprising. But he is also, at times deliberately repellent, opaque, puzzling... Im still waiting for his next work. I do hope he is still writing. (maybe i should change my .signature...) -- O -- jefu tell me all about -- UUCP: {rochester,edison}!steinmetz!putnam Anna Livia! I want to hear all.... -- ARPA: putnam@GE-CRD