Bad Ass Pynchon

[Orlowsky at aol.com]

>From the Columbia Journalism Review, March/April 1995, Vol. XXXIII, No. 6, p.
69, "The Gray Lady and the "P" Word" by Rebecca Sinkler (former editor of the
New York Times Book Review):

"And then, of course, because fate always is there ready to slip you a banana
peel, I ended up at The New York Times. And things that I was allowed to say
as a reporter and things that were allowed to be said as an editor at other
papers were verboten in New York.  We couldn't say Ms. when I arrived at The
New York Times and we couldn't say gay; we couldn't say damn either without
going to a higher editor for permission.  I remember a disastrous
stomach-turning moment when we had to pull an essay at the last minute
because Abe Rosenthal, the
executive editor of The New York Times, would not allow Thomas Pynchon to use
the term "bad ass." And Thomas Pynchon would not allow Abe Rosenthai to
"censor" him."

Anybody know anything about this?

Bob