On being a recluse

[Bradley O'Neill]

>Interested to see the resurfacing of writer Joyce Maynard, and
>to learn that she was once JD Salinger's girlfriend, which, given
>the apocraphyl links between JDS and TRP, raises the question:
>where are TRP's old lovers?  (Is he married?  Who knows?)
>Shouldn't the law of averages dictate that at least one of them
>should be unethical/embittered and willing to fink on the guy?
>What does their continued (hypothetical) silence tell us about
>TRP?

It isn't hard to believe that Pynchon would be terribly selective in the
collection of friends.  Doubly so for intimate relationships. Perhaps the
man radiates integrity and people don't want to rat on him. Radical notion.
Also, the whole 'compatriots in secrecy' element probably comes into play
with his acquaintances, much the same way the town of Cornish NH protected
(protects?) the location of Salinger...you have to ask what their vested
interest is... Well, I'll appropriate a verb from Hannibal Lecter: 'to
covet'.
I do wonder how forced TRP's reclusiveness is, however- I wonder if we've
even got him pegged correctly at all, the whole 'dodging shadows and prying
lit. detectives with aliases composed from clever anagrams on characters
names', etc...it's so trite.
I'm saying, maybe a guy named Marcel in Queens has had a basketball buddy
named Thomas for the past three years and they get together every weekend
and shoot hoops and Marcel doesn't give a crap if Thomas writes paradigm
busting novels or obituaries for NYT. That reality is not relevant. No, I
wager Pynchon loves/needs people far too much to be a classic
hermit...Given the easy energy and familiar personality in his writing
(esp. the few extant letters and his non-fiction) and various second-hand
accounts of interactions,  I get the sense of a man ultimately comfortable
with many types of people, a jovial eccentric with decent personality camo
when required.

...On a totally different tack, will one of you genuis programmers create a
game called 'Where In the World Is Thomas Pynchon?' It can be a kind of
literary/mid-to-late twentieth century romp. What better platform from
which to contruct an encyclopedic game than from *the* encyclopedist?