Pynchon Ford Grant App

[Steve Weisenburger]

W/R/T Bob Orlowsky's question about Pynchon's Ford Foundation grant
application of 1959:  I have a xeroxed copy of it, sent by the Ford folk
before Pynchon moved to have his file sealed and to copyright the
grant itself.  Since those moves in 1990 Pynchon has (through Melanie
Jackson) denied permission to quote from the document in whole or in
part.  It's also therefore illegal to copy the copy--something I was
cautioned about in 1990, when attorneys at Duke University, acting on
behalf of _American Literature_, tangled with Jackson over my short
article on the Ford Foundation grant. In it I was allowed to quote
only a few words and phrases, under the provisions of the "Fair Use"
clause of current copyright law.  For my article see _American
Literature_ 62.4 (December 1990):  692-97.

Meantime I'm told there are a few bootleg copies of the copy out
there in the world but anyone possessing one or, more importantly,
copying one, should be aware that the text is legally protected. It
shouldn't go out over the net, either.