On-line interview with--Jules Siegal!!!

[Jules Siegel]

MASCARO at HUMnet.UCLA.EDU wrote:
> 
> Jules Siegal,
> 
> No, I am not w/ the DEA.  Are You?  No, I am not moralistically criticizing drugs.  I
> thought the moralism was coming from you, but you deny implying or asserting in
> your post that  you  see P.'s creativity as a--symptom--of his drug use.  I say
> you--are-- making the implication, and that in fact it IS a moralistic one, on your
> part.  I also wonder how you can chide me to read--your--posts carefully while
> admitting to having only skimmed parts of GR.  Pretty silly of you, isn't it?
> I also think you ought to read your own posts carefully, because it looks like you
> contradict yourself twice; once when you write a paragraph about drug reactions
> and say it's not about drug reactions, and again when you say you are not the
> source of the Infamous Drug Confession, because P. told you himself (did I read
> that right?  is this what you are saying?} But of course you are the source of the
> Infamous Drug Confession, since I never read P. himself ever say he told you
> anything.  But, please, I am not being hostile, though I think there is hostility in
> what you write, especially about P. (and I always wonder--why?) , I was just
> welcoming you to the list in the spirit of true drug-addled anarchic flamethrowing
> fun.  Maybe you'll stick around long enough to decide it's time to actually read
> him.
> 
> john m
> 
> p.s If I told you how many times I have watched my dead grandmother crawl up
> my leg with a knife between her teeth, would you believe I have nothing against a
> little drug use?
> 
> jm
> 
> >
> >Maybe it should. I will appreciate your reading the material carefully
> >before offering hostile opinions off the top of your head.
> >
> >You are speaking directly with Jules Siegel, the author of the infamous
> >Playboy memoir about Thomas Pynchon. My ex-wife, Chrissie Wexler, is
> >visiting us in Cancun and she agreed to be interviewed on-line. She is
> >staying in a hotel about two miles from my residence and I am collecting
> >question to take to her.
> >
> >> I would like to protest that this--drug theory--of
> >> P.'s work is preposterously reductive and mechanistic.  It completely smears
> >over
> >> the individual response to chemical interaction.  You seem to tar P w/ that
> >brush
> >> in your PLAYBOY article too, which I haven't reread in years, so maybe I am
> >> misremembering.  Aren't you (if it is Mr. Siegal I am addressing) the source of
> >that
> >> infamous statement about his writing GR while being totally wasted?  I don't
> >think
> >> I have ever read P. himself attest to this anywhere.
> >
> >> Actually, in case I am wrong about the source, does anybody know the source of
> >that assertion?
> >
> >You are wrong. He told me so directly himself. We usually smoked grass
> >together when I visited California.
> >
> >> But the idea that Dangerous Drugs actually--wrote--Thomas Pynchon, well, it's
> >> downright Rushdian.
> >
> >I didn't say that drugs wrote Thomas Pynchon. I said that he himself
> >commented directly to me that he had to re-write quite a bit of
> >Gravity's Rainbow because he was so wasted when he wrote the draft that
> >he couldn't understand what he might have meant.
> >
> >> >The over-elaboration of detail is often an expression of acute anxiety.
> >> >One sees this when over-dosing on amphetamine, which creates a similar
> >> >effect, including the paranoia, I think because it is similar to
> >> >adrenaline, which produces similar symptoms. The acutely anxious person
> >> >produces many stress hormones as part of the attempt to mediate the pain
> >> >by performing miracles. Overstimulation leads to injudicious actions,
> >> >too. When you crash, you experience a profound paranoid depression as
> >> >you review your errors rather than your triumphs. I see this tone of
> >> >deep regret in much of his work. His story "Entropy," is as much about
> >> >regret and depression as it is about physics. So is Gravity's Rainbow,
> >> >from the little of it I skimmed.
> >
> >I am not speaking directly of drug use here, as obvious from the text,
> >but about the similarities among natural states of acute anxiety and the
> >various effects of drugs such as amphetamine. I am doing this not to tar
> >Tom with any brush but to communicate the state of mind I feel he (we
> >all) often experiences, whether writing or not. I don't know if he used
> >amphetamines. I do know that almost all writers of our generation
> >frequenty used large quantities of it and I would be surprised to find
> >out that he didn't. Are you with the DEA? Do you have some kind of
> >prejudice against drugs? If you want to understand the past thirty
> >years, I suggest you put aside your moralistic tone and try to empathize
> >with what we saw, rather than lecturing us about its social
> >connotations.
> >
> >--
> >Jules Siegel Website: http://www.caribe.net.mx/siegel/jsiegel.htm
> >Mail: Apdo. 1764 Cancun QR 77501 Mexico
> >Street: Green 16 Paseo Pok-Ta-Pok Zona Hotelera Cancun QR 77500 Mexico
> >Tel: 011-52-98 87-49-18 Fax 87-49-13 E-mail: jsiegel at mail.caribe.net.mx
> >
> >
> >

[1] I didn't deny being the source of the dope quote. I affirmed it.
It's in the article. 

[2] Please be specific about my "hostility."

[3] I'm not analyzing Gravity's Rainbow. I'm offering opinions about the
psychological sources of Tom's writing style and personal style and I am
very careful to point out the gaps in my knowledge.

[4] Comparing stress hormones to drugs is not saying they are the same
thing. Please read this over again and try to understand what I am
saying. I am not moralizing about drug use nor am I saying that his
style is a symptom of drug use. I defy anyone to accurately identify
drug-induced writing. A writer friend, Craig Vetter, once complained
that he didn't like what I wrote on amphetamine. I asked him what piece
he liked least.
"Alpha machines in Penthouse," he replied. Written on a cup of coffee.
Most? "Family Secrets." New American Review #10. The result of the
single largest dose of amphetamine I took in my entire life. At the same
time, I think it very fair and useful to discuss modern culture in terms
of drug use, for better or worse.

[5] My name is spelled Siegel.

[6] I am not sure what your statement about your grandmother means. Did
this really happen? Are you talking about drug-induced hallucinations?
If you are, I think that it would be useful for you to examine the
source of the pain it expresses with someone you trust deeply.

[7] I read all his short stories. I read V. carefully more than once and
I summarized it for North American Newspaper Alliance in 1963. The
Crying of Lot 49 left me cold, but I did read it. From what I see here,
many of the people on the list have not been able to get through
Gravity's Rainbow and, in fact, are here in order to understand it
better.

I'm sure you're sincere in your views, but it would be helpful if you
would slow down a little and organize your thoughts more carefully, as
they are difficult for me to answer in their present form. Everything
that I write here is carefully considered and edited before I send it
out. I enjoy this, but it's quite a bit of work and I think it merits
your respect.
-- 
Jules Siegel Website: http://www.caribe.net.mx/siegel/jsiegel.htm
Mail: Apdo. 1764 Cancun QR 77501 Mexico
Street: Green 16 Paseo Pok-Ta-Pok Zona Hotelera Cancun QR 77500 Mexico
Tel: 011-52-98 87-49-18 Fax 87-49-13 E-mail: jsiegel at mail.caribe.net.mx