The Book

[Paul Mackin]

On Sun, 28 Jan 1996, Tom Stanton's tribute to our author was an excellent
antidote, if one were needed, to my Gore Vidal quotes. Good going Tom.

				P.


> In high school I wanted to study physics, but the math stumped me and,
> besides, I had discovered women. When I started college PolySci sounded
> interesting, but after a year I decided English Lit was more my style.
> 
> Summer 1973, having switched majors, I completed a seminar on James Joyce
> and started working construction. Unsure about being yet another Joyce
> scholar, a friend drops a review of "GR" from the Atlantic Monthly in my
> lap. The reviewer claims _GR_ is as good as Joyce, full of science, full of
> political intrigue, and funny to boot. Well, sez I to me, this sounds pretty
> serious. I purchased _GR_ in hardcover (a big expense for me) and started
> reading. 
> 
> Every morning before work I read for two hours, then sweated for eight more
> to earn my next year's tuition, then returned home to read some more. As I
> moved through _GR_ I was shaken by how much the book spoke to me,
> personally. The rich technical details and the enthusiasm the characters had
> for their work rang true to my own experiences as an adolescent science
> geek; the politics and intrigue and values that made the plot so fascinating
> were my own as surely as if I'd written the book myself; and the musical
> hall lyrics, the slapstick comedy, the obscene (but often hilarious) sex,
> and the endless drug references all seemed too new, too radical for a very
> sheltered Midwestern undergrad, but I devoured it all. 
> 
> To this day I have to say it is the only book I've read that materially
> changed my life. Other books have had an important effect on me, but _GR_
> was a kind of wake up call for me at 19, and I was never quite the same. I
> found more sex and drugs in Burroughs, darker themes in Djuna Barnes and
> Anna Kavan, more comedy in Kosinski, Barthelme, Heller, etc., but never that
> unique fusion of all these elements (and a few more besides) that informed
> TRP's work. I've read the cannon of course, all the non-fiction, and proudly
> own several critical tomes. 
> 
> I moved on from thinking I could be an English teacher into being a
> copywriter, reporter, and reviewer. In 1979 I moved into computers where I
> could fuse my love for technology and the humanities into a career and have
> never doubted this was meant to be. Was that *all* due to TRP? Not really,
> but I wonder what might have happened otherwise. There are personal moments
> where your world changes forever, and that summer, drenched in sweat and
> dirt and beer and nights reading _GR_ remains one of the first seminal
> turning points in my adult life. Mr. Pynchon, my thanks for a wonderful
> summer...
> 
>