Suck; p-travels

[Craig Bleakley]

So, "Suck' represents the cutting edge of "smart-ass" journalism?  Seems
more dumb-ass to me.  The main critique I find in the article is that
Pynchon's works have short shelf-lives--despite the fact that I don't think
any of his stuff has ever been out of print.  That's almost thirty-five for
years for V.  A slightly longer shelf-life than the article in question, I'd
venture to guess.

As for Pynchon's alleged travels for obtaining local detail, I think a case
can be made that his longest journey probably took him to a decent library.
Wiesenberger (whose name I'm mis-spelling, if I am, as a sign of solidarity
rather than disrespect), makes a strong case that P practically memorized
the London Times for the period.  P. himself admits, in the intro to SL that
he got most of the Egyptian local color in V. from an old Baedekker.  It
seems that I've seen reference to the main source for his South-west Africa
detail, too, though it's name escapes me.

Granted, there's a vast difference in the sheer amount of detail given for
the locales in V. and the loving abundance of detail in GR not only about
London, but the Zone (I always think of the storks).  But one of the other
merits of GR often noted, in terms of writing craft, is it's
all-too-credible recreation of the *feel* of wartime London.  Yet no one is
arguing that Pynchon was there at the time.  And might there not be a
photograph (or film even?) of the Battersea shore of Chelsea?

So, Jesper, my advice would be to take a step a back and perhaps consider a
broader thesis: either argue that Pynchon *had* to be some of the places he
describes, and then find those descriptions, and what it is about them that
suggests Pynchon's physical presence at them; or, conversely, argue that he
could have gotten much if not all of the detail from library resources, and
then track down some of them.  If there exists a book of photography of
London during the Blitz, it might be a good place to start.

I personally have to believe that Pynchon convincingly describes many places
he's never been, but I guess that doesn't mean he hasn't been to any of them.

Anyway,
Craig Bleakley

"Gimme crack and anal sex"--Leonard Cohen