Playboy piece

[Jules Siegel]

James F. Bisso wrote:
> 
> Mr Siegel--
> 
> I've been enjoying your postings of "Christie's interview" on the Pynchon
> list. I was curious if Christie knows what lead Pynchon to join the Navy (as
> an enlisted man). It doesn't seem like anything the scion of an old
> aristocratic family should do.

I'll ask her tomorrow when I see her. I think it would have been part of
his attempt to escape his heritage and achieve oneness with the common
man. He was quite proud about having worked with road crew when his
father was a public official in Oyster Bay. Also, the educational
benefits were excellent and he was hardly ROTC material. Other than
that, I don't know, maybe he liked the adorable uniform. The Pynchons
were not aristocrats in the usual sense, though. I don't know to what
extent the heritage really mattered to him on a conscious level. They
weren't Old Money, but Old Family without money. This is a really
difficult position to be in, as Chrissie has so eloquently laid out for
us. I was impressed by the Colonial portraits and the 18th Century house
because I was a simple Jewish boy from The Bronx. Despite what Chrissie
says, he might have considered them merely old paintings and the house
just an old house. 

--
Jules Siegel Website: http://www.caribe.net.mx/siegel/jsiegel.htm
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