Janelle and Jules

[Ryan C. Lizza]

Been lurking on this list for a few weeks now, put off by the silly fight
that's been going on and waiting for M&D discussions to start.

But I have suddenly been thrust into the maelstrom.  Janelle Brown, the
Wired reporter, happens to be a friend of mine from college (I had no idea
she was writing an article about any of this...in fact I haven't seen her
in about 2 years) and when I saw her getting pounced upon by Jules et. al.
I passed along to her the posts (hope I didn't violate any copyright laws).
Janelle has asked me to post the following in response.

But first, while we are still in pre-M&D time, I don't think there is much
wrong with what Jules did.  It ranks pretty low on the sleaze scale.  But I
do find it amusing that he continues to be successful at luring people into
flame wars.  Does anyone think that Jules really believes all that stuff in
that post about total book control and creating a new kind of novel?  I
don't think he's that deluded, he's just having a little fun.  How
inconsequential Jules' cute little book will seem when we begin trudging
through M&D.

Yours churly,
Ryan C. Lizza


Here is Janelle's post:



Pynchon-L members:

In no way was my article "wildly inaccurate."
Two mistakes are legitimate: I accidentally left the word "former" out when
describing his wife, I also attributed the illustrations of Pynchon to R.
Crumb, a   I apologized for my mistakes, and have already taken steps to
correct them (if they aren't fixed already, they will be in the next Wired
News post).

As to the meat of the story; Dale and Jules seem to object to the fact that
the article focused on the flame wars when in fact the book is
"complicated."  Says Dale "it is not about the flame wars, nor is it really
about Pynchon and his privacy." Bullshit. If they wanted me to write an
article about "Siegel and his experiences online" then maybe they should
reexamine their PR approach - The press releases that I received clearly
was trying to sell the book as just that: (and I quote) "New Book Fills In
Holes in Pynchon Bio" and "Reclusive Author Pynchon's Bio is Expanded by
His Close Friends in Book of Internet Conversations>" If they didn't like
me taking that angle and investigating the Pynchon-L reactions to the book,
tough. It may be a book about Jules's experiences, but the selling point is
clearly Pynchon and the Pynchon-L debates.

As for accuracy, I went through the Web archives and read every post from
last October regarding Siegel; I interviewed Siegel for 45 minutes and
carefully followed the notes I had. I also received emails from at least 6
members of Pynchon L. I also attempted to get a copy of the book;
unfortunately, the galleys sent to Wired disappeared into the void of
someone's desk.

As for "checking back" with Siegel - I've yet to meet a new journalist who
shows stories to an articles' subjects before they run in order to make
sure they like what you write. Fact is, a lot of people on Pynchon-L
painted him in an unflattering light; I pointed this out in the story, and
I imagine that this is what he didn't approve of.

All in all, I'm sorry for the two small errors - all I can say is that it
happens in daily news, and I'm fixing them, although I can't comment on
Siegel's "divorce" and whether it's my fault. But I wrote what I felt to be
an accurate story. I realize that this is an exceptionally touchy issue for
many people on the list, and I appreciate all the correspondences that I've
received on the matter. And I regret that this whole debacle has once again
interrupted what you intend to discuss: Pynchon and his work.

Thanks
Janelle


   *  janelle                   *            *
*       brown       *  culture             *
        *                    *      reporter
wired news     *                 *              *
  hotwired           www.wired.com    *
*                                               *