ampersands & Wanda T.

[William Daniel Walsh]

> I think what makes them interesting is that we can read something he
> didn't intend the public to read.  Sure, I have the same torn feelings
> reading it as I do listening to a really great bootleg, but . . . I
> suppose the same rational I use for the 'legs works for the Letters.  The
> fact that what we're listening to (or in this case reading) is raw, but
> still brilliant, proves the artistry of the individual.  It's not that I
> have more respect for Pynchon because he can produce on the fly what, for
> example, someone like Flaubert struggled with for years, because writers
> work differently. 
> 
> Truth be told, I don't know where I'm going with this, which I suppose
> proves your point . . .
> 
> Scott Kaufman
> skaufm1 at tiger.lsu.edu

I don't know that I totally agree with your bootleg analogy;  an artist
that has been bootlegged (generally) intends for some audience, however
select, to hear the 'legged performance--those attending a live show, for
example.  But those attending the show know full well who the artist
is.  

I honestly do not think that TRP ever wanted anyone to know that he, in
fact, was the one performing.  Knowing how much the man values his
privacy, I can't help but feel uncomfortable reading these letters.  

And it's not just that;  it's also disturbing for me to note just how much
(if I am honest), In a way, I DO want to violate his privacy.  I DO want
to know more about him personally.  The letter that I find most compelling
is the one that is perhaps most un-Pynchon-like--the one in which Wanda
seems to lower her guard, and drop the wise-ass facade.  I find that it
humanizes her/him to me, and I also find that this is somehow important:
                                              June 4, 1984
Judy Brown,

I honestly do think poetry is important to people, in much the same way
that clean air and food and water are important to people.  I do not have
my head up my ass;  I know that people are being murdered so that I can
have bananas three pounds for a dollar.  I know that most of the human
race goes to sleep and wakes up hungry.  I know that most of the wealth of
the earth comes to my country and turns to atomic waste.  I know that
every hour species of my fellow beings born with Adam will become extinct.
I know this planet is being poisoned to death because of vanity and fear
and hate, and I know these things are mine.  I believe that poetry is an
immediate answer and an ultimate answer to these things;  I believe that
poetry is the language of the Muse, Who exists in a far different way from
a cute conceit.  I don't think there are such things as "good poetry" and
"bad poetry";  I think there is a part of language that's the language of
the Muse, Who is a Goddess, and God help us all!
                  Best wishes to Tinaskys everywhere.
                                   Wanda Tinasky
   (from:  _The Letters of Wanda Tinasky_, vers libre press, p.25)