PIPS E-Newsletter #1, Volume 1 (post 1)

[Eric Alan Weinstein]

Newsletter #1, Vol. 1----last week of July, 1997


Welcome, dear friends,  to the first edition of the PIPS newsletter.

It has been a while now since Luc and I have made
 the announcement concerning International Pynchon Week.
 At the top of that document you will have read the following:

"Two complementary events will take place, the first one
 in Antwerp and the second one in London, with ample travel
 time in between. The Programme for International Pynchon
 Studies (PIPS) will help co-ordinate activities between sites,
 informing and assisting participants whenever possible."

     It would have been only natural for people to ask what
 the heck  the Programme for International Pynchon Studies
 was, other than an excuse for a mildly amusing acronym.

     Oddly enough, no one did ask. Which perhaps was well
 enough, for just a short while ago PIPS did not exist except
 on paper, and slightly crumpled and smudged paper it was
 at that. PIPS was incubating, turning in the life-fluid of 
imagination, unready to withstand  the harsh, cruel world of
 academic bureaucracy.  I hope it may be ready now, and with
 everyone's co-operation, I'm sure it will be. So what is this 
PIPS, and what might the PIPS organization do?

PIPS is both a scholarly organization for Pynchon Studies
existing to facilitate the interests and desires of its
academic community, and an ongoing academic Seminar 
programme. Based at the University of  London and the 
University of  Antwerp we will provide interesting, 
innovative, and in-depth teaching of the work of Thomas 
Pynchon to students, faculty, and other interested parties. 
We shall also promote and support conferences, such as 
those of June 98's  International Pynchon Week. 
Additionally,  PIPS will encourage and direct applications 
for projects on or  related to Thomas Pynchon throughout 
the academic community. 


The PIPS address at London will be:
Programme for International Pynchon Studies
C.C.H./Office For Humanities Communications
Kings College, University of London
Somerset House, The Strand, London
tel. (0171) 873-5081, fax (0171) 873-2684
PIPS at kcl.ac.uk  / E.A.Weinstein at qmw.ac.uk

     The telephone number is the general one
for CCH/OHC at this point. They will always lend 
secretarial and administrative support to PIPS. 
However, we can look forward to another, new
direct telephone line for the PIPS office, ready 
by the second newsletter in September.


The PIPS newsletter should appear about every six-weeks
in your mailbox. It will, in future, also be maintained at the 
forthcoming PIPS World Wide Web site at King's College, the 
University of London. 

Each newsletter will have two volumes. The first  will be 
the initial posting of  scholarly information from the London 
base,  concerning information on a) progress with various
conferences, publications and events, b) visiting fellowships or guest 
lectureships, c) funds for particular projects, d) prospective 
publications and media events, e) other reasonable projects 
which PIPS might reasonably be expected to support,
contribute to, or facilitate, f) queries to PIPS members for 
additional information (concerning books, reviews, events, 
conferences, teaching posts, requests for one-off visits or 
collaborations, ongoing research fellowships, receipts for 
General plum pudding, etc.)
 
The second Volume will appear about a week later, and will
be an edited and organized selection of responses to Vol. One's
queries, as well as points of  interest brought to the editor's 
attention which we plum did not think of asking about in the 
first place.

I believe PIPS will offer a forum for communication and 
community between academics with a long-term interest in 
Pynchon studies. This would be different from, and 
complimentary to, the functions served by 
Pynchon Notes, and  looser forums such 
as the Pynchon list. 
_________________________________________
---post 2 on its way---
Eric Alan Weinstein
University of London
E.A.Weinstein at qmw.ac.uk