More from News, 3

[John M. Krafft]

From:	MIAVX2::JMKRAFFT     "John M. Krafft" 26-FEB-1992 22:54:43.66
To:	
CC:	JMKRAFFT    
Subj:	Re: Is Thomas Pynchon Gibson's Secret Love-Child?

X-News: miavx2 alt.cyberpunk:483
From: TRINGHAM at usmv01.usm.uni-muenchen.de (Tringham, Neal)
Subject:Re: Is Thomas Pynchon Gibson's Secret Love-Child?
Date: 24 Feb 92 19:14:43 GMT
Message-ID:<1992Feb24.191443.6426 at news.lrz-muenchen.de>

Neal writes 
> 
> > 2) The `real eighties' (as seen by Gibson) are simply the inevitable result
> > of what Pynchon saw coming in the sixties (now _there's_ a nasty thought
> > for you)?
> 
Jesse writes:
>    Hmm... not sure how to answer that.  What do you think that Pynchon 
> foresaw, really? And which of his works do you draw this vision from?

The total victory of the military/industrial complex, to produce a 
neatly canned cliche. Actually I only _really_ got that feeling after
reading _Vineland_ and thinking about how well a lot of the `Oh My God, the
Eighties are TERRIBLE!' stuff fitted in with _Gravity's Rainbow_. 

> 
>    No idea.  But I'm pretty sure Gibson's read Pynchon.  If I can get a 
> hold of it, I'll check out this magazine interview again, because I'm 
> almost sure he (Gibson) said something about Pynchon in it...

Yes. There was an interview in _Interzone_ where Gibson listed his 
favourite authors as Pynchon, Burroughs and (I THINK) Nabokov. 

>  I guess the eighties-zeitgeist theory is most promising to me... 

I agree:-) 

>but to 
> really make a case for it, I think you ought to include more examples of 
> such from different genres... future thesis there...?

Um... ah... Well, apart from the obvious (_Blade Runner_, ho ho) the 
only one that leaps to mind is Bret Eastson Ellis, who has the affectless
`characters', the dubious obsessions with meaningless sex and drugs, the
Commodification Thing and (as I remember) also occasionally displays Gibson's
sort of film noir romanticism. In fact, I strongly remember reading
_Less Than Zero_ and thinking `gee, this is JUST like _Neuromancer_ with all
the interesting bits taken out...' Oh yes, and Martin Amis (_Money_, and
to a lesser extent _London Fields_, are very much about How Horrible the
Eighties Are, and so naturally reflect a lot of the same concerns). Any
other suggestions, anyone? 


>    Thanks for posing a fun set of speculations, though.  Take it easy--
> 

Thanks:-)

Neal Tringham