Pynchon questions

[MantaRay at aol.com]

>I'm a reporter for Wired, and I'm doing a story about Jules Siegel's
>book on Thomas Pynchon and the correspondence with Pynchon-L.I was
>hoping to get some comments from you, as a member in the initia
>Pynchon-L debate, as to your opinions on the endeaver. Do you approve,
>think it's a good idea? 

Do I think what's a good idea? The List or the Book? As far as I'm concerned
the only reason a book is published is to sell something. If you think people
will buy a book of our Plist-comments, there's probably something wrong with
you. Or maybe there's something wrong with me thinking that some fool will
throw down 10 bucks to listen to our rants. I guess maybe "good idea" is not
the right approach. Being a person who runs a bookstore in Berkeley, I would
never pick up a book like this. Which is why I think the List complainers are
off-base. No one gives a shit what we have to say, which is ok with me. So I
guess it's a bad idea as far as capitalism goes.

>Do you think that Siegel is respecting
>Pynchon's desire for privacy? 

Privacy? That's entirely against the point of the net and the list. We're
here because we have something to say to each other about someone, namely
Pynchon, although I would have to say we spend about only 10% of the time
talking about him. People who are complaining about privacy on the net are
hypocrites. It's one thing to hack someone's credit card number (well, I
guess thatd epends on whose number it is); it's another thing to publishe
random, silly posts on Pynchon. If I wanted privacy on the list or the net, I
wouldn't hit the send button. That's what the power button is for.

>Or do you think he's capitalizing on his
>friendship with him?

If he's REALLY TRP's friend, then it would seem logical that Pynchon 1)
already knows and doesn't give a shit or b) they're not really friends. If
it's 2, Jules is just another hack trying to make a buck. Just like Bill
Gates and Wired. So what elese is new? Ithink everyone needs to take a long
look at what they're doing and where they are.

>Are you glad the book is coming?

I'm glad my free copy is coming. As far as the book itself, like I said, only
a fool would throw away money to read our flames.

Just for my own knowledge:

What's the point of your article? Is it on net privacy issues or a
celebratory blurb on net conversation? How it really is IMPORTANT otherwise
why would there be a book on it? That kind of thing? Are you using this
article to sell magazines or using it to raise the issue of constitutional
freedoms in the electronic age? I have a sneaking suspicion that it's the
first. I used to work for MONDO 2000 you know. I remember when you guys were
Advertising slaves. 

MantaRay