Attributions and Epigraphs

[LARSSON at vax1.mankato.msus.edu]

P. observes:
"Cooper's statement to Fay Wray is _historical_ in the truest sense possible.
(I think)
 
Nixon's statement is real and historical only in the _trivial_ sense--
it's equally real and historical for _all_ English speakers. (Does sound like
Nixon, though.)
 
What Dorothy said about Kansas is an accurate quote, but of a movie
or fictional character.
 
Ergo, Werner's statement _has_ to be made up. It only _sounds_ like
something a guy not too confortable with his past life might say on a public
occasion. In a way, it sounds too good to be true. Gore Vidal once said
something to the effect it was a sop to god-hungry youth. (Acutally, he
was making a further point not very complimentary to Pynchon, but . . )"


But what do we make of the report that the epigraph for Part IV was orignally
going to be a line from Joni Mitchell's "Cactus Tree"?


Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)