Letters to the Editor (New York, 11/25/96)

[davemarc]

Tom Tom Club

        Congratulations to Nancy Jo Sales and *New York* for pulling off the
literary/journalism coup of the century!  Imagine, finding Thomas Pynchon
["Meet Your Neighbor, Thomas Pynchon," November 11]!  Kudos to a great
article that admirably respected the author's right to privacy while
expounding the mythos surrounding both him and his great works.
        As always, Harold Bloom remains shortsighted in his tainted
observations of *Vineland* as a less-than-magnificent novel.  What he terms
a "terrible book" was actually an extension of *Gravity's Rainbow* for the
Information Age.  It met video and television head-on as *Gravity's Rainbow*
confronted film.  What William Gibson's *Neuromancer* has done for cyberpunk
and the Internet, the combined texts of *Gravity's Rainbow* and *Vineland*
do for the modern American consciousness.  These novels together illustrate
the individual's continued existential angst in a society where information
is commodity and where faith, trust, and hope are readily exploited for
cash.  Mr. Pynchon, a prophet of our age, has looked into the face of modern
Western civilization and decided, quite virtuously, to disassociate himself.
Looking forward to *Mason & Dixon*.
John-James Sargent
Waterbury, Conn.

        I find it incredibly hateful that Nancy Jo Sales all but prints
Thomas Pynchon's home address.  Why is she so resentful of his incredibly
good fortune--a family, a circle of friends who honor his wishes, success,
*anonymity*?  Other than that, the article was, to the faithful, an
assemblage of old stories and folklore--retread retro garbage.  May she
never know such an invasion of privacy.
David Dunton
Hoboken, N.J.

        I deplore the decision to print "Meet Your Neighbor, Thomas
Pynchon."  A great and good man has chosen to live quietly in our midst;
until this article appeared, his passion for privacy--not to mention the
privacy of his child!--has been pretty much respected.  Your stakeout may
have been successful on a base level; you may have "bagged your quarry" (for
whatever that was worth); but I found the article distasteful, the
photograph invasive and more than a little creepy (are we *all* on *Candid
Camera* now?), and the entire endeavor far below the sophisticated standards
I expect from *New York* Magazine.
Tim Page
New York

[davemarc notes:  Tim Page is a gifted arts writer/reporter who "profiled"
P. for Newsday around the time of *Vineland*'s release.  The article
included copies of the old photos.  He also produced the *Spiked!*
collection.  His other credits include many contributions to the The
Washington Post.  

New York Magazine features the often nasty and creepy albeit
hyper-sophisticated criticism of John Simon.]