roz chast comic

[MASCARO at humnet.ucla.edu]

Steve Klinge writes:

>3.  A late postscript: my favorite GR cover is the British Picador
>paperback-- black, with a silvery rocket whose base melds into the gartered
>and laced hips of a woman.  Very phallic, and appropriate.
>rave on. 
>steve klinge


I haven't seen that one, but my least favorite Pynchon cover I've seen so far 
is the French edition of VINELAND, which I saw this past summer in a Parisian 
bookstore.  It's a cartoon-like drawing of some idyllic countryside with 
happy clouds and green verdant meadows, and seems completely opposed to the 
blasted treescape of the US hardcover, which is, I guess, my favorite TRP 
cover.  I was really bugged by the French--prettification--of VINELAND.

Threre may be an ominous subtle detail or two, but I can't recall now. If my 
French was stronger (or, more to the point, if last summer's dollar had been 
stronger, I'da bought it, just so I could continue being bugged, y'know?  
There should be a word for the annoyance caused by French culture, like 
there's that beautioful German word (shadenfreunde?--I speak no German) to 
describe the guilty pleasure we feel at a friend's misfortune.

John M.