Tinasky?

[Larry Atwood]

On 6/19/95 the Indianapolis Star ran this short filler:

                   "Could a bag lady be living in the head of reclusive author
                Thomas Pynchon?
                   Pynchon, best known for his books "Gravity's Rainbow," "V.,"
                and "The Crying of Lot 49," may also be the real author of
a series
                of letters signed by a self-described bag lady named Wanda
Tinasky.
                   From 1984 to 1989, "Tinasky" wrote meticulously typed
letters to
                a samll newspaper that were sprinkled with French and German
                phrases, historical and literary references, limericks and
insults.
                   "Tinasky" said she lived under a bridge.
                   The newspaper's publisher and local Fort Bragg, Calif.,
scholars
                believe the letters were from Pynchon, who is so reclusive there
                are no pictures of him later than high school.  Pynchon is
thought
                to have lived in the area while researching his novel
"Vineland."

I've just recently gotten involved with the net so perhaps I've just missed
it, but in going through all the letters in the Pynchon archive nothing
touches on this.  Is there anyone out there who could enlighten me?