pynchon-l-digest V1 #393

[Paul Murphy]

Alan Joyce writes:

>Just finished reading a week's worth of Pynchon-l digests.  Jesus, you
>people write a lot.  God bless you, every one.

Pynchon-l on digest: just joined it (having bounced about for several
months previously on the regular, get-it-while-it's-hot list). The level of
giddiness is truly endearing and life-affirming. Before I get thrown off
for saying "I love each and every one of you", let me say that Chris's
Dillard-a-plenty list made me howl.

>Oh, yeah, I had a question -- can any of you lunatics (academic,
>blue-collar, or otherwise) confirm or deny this bit of trivia: that at one
>point whilst Sam Beckett was helping out with taking down the dictation of
>FW, someone knocked on the door; Joyce said "Come in" which Beckett took
>down in the flow of dictation without really thinking.  When he read the
>text back to Joyce, he realized what had happened and asked if he should
>take it out, to which Joyce replied in the negative.
>
>True or not, love the story.  Can't remember where I heard it.

It's in either Ellmann's _Joyce_ or Bair's _Beckett_, or both. Knowlson,
author of the very new _Damned to Fame_, suggests that its apocryphal. But
Knowlson is incredibly dreary.

Speaking of dreary ... I answer my own Dostoevsky question. The COL49
Companion was reposing on a local bookstore shelf, and yes, FD's epilepsy
is cited (but from _The Idiot_, not _Demons_). And for God's sake, who can
take seriously the claim that the
shattering-of-the-mirror-in-the-motel-bathroom sequence (precipitated by
the rocketing hairspray can) is a comment on Lacan's mirror stage. Steely,
I fully empathize with your opprobrium.

Cheers,
Paul

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Nothing of what has passed will be called back, what is of the future
             is expected as something that will pass by"
              --Augustine, _Commentaries on the Psalms_