Vineland Release

[Andrew Dinn]

Nigel E. Richardson writes:

> In the UK, I heard about Vineland less than a week before it
> appeared, but I wasn't reading any academic or publishing
> stuff back then, so it might have been anounced. It was weird 
> to just be idly looking around Waterstone's and seeing a huge 
> display of the book. I even saw a pretty darkhaired girl in a 
> Vineland T-shirt on the London underground a few evenings later 
> which got an immediate "wha?" reaction from me...

There was a weekend paper blurb on Pynchon about a month before
publication in the UK, detailing the usual stuff plus... an account of
some journalist who traced Pynchon through a friend in the IRS but
turned back outside the relevant building not wanting to deny the man
his privacy. An unlikely story given that it features a journalist.
Also, recounted a tale of some other sleuth who arrived outside the
apartment at midday and asked if a certain Thomas Pynchon lived
there. The person at the door said `Sure, he'll be back around 5.'
Sure enough, at 5 pm the flat was vacated. Anyone who can validate
these apocrypha or remember the source of the story (it was probably
the Saturday Guardian as I gave up Sunday papers many years ago).

The book was heavily promoted in bookshops around London. I got my
copy the day it was released, took it to Dominic's (Watford's finest
Italian greasy spoon) for an extended lunch break and was so bitterly
disappointed with the first page that I spilt my cappucino over it. A
week later I was more than happy enough with the finished product.


Andrew Dinn
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And though Earthliness forget you,
To the stilled Earth say:  I flow.
To the rushing water speak:  I am.