how trashy can you get?

[Vaska]

Jules, in response to me:

>>the intelligence to have known perfectly well that choosing to be a literary
>>Greta Garbo was a sure way of turning himself into a "personality."  That's
>>what the Pynchon *myth* is all about and that's what it rests on.
>
>I think that when Time can to photograph him in Mexico City he had a panic
>attack. This would have been a sudden, intuitive response to being thrust
>into the limelight. I heard he came to the door and when the Time guy
>identified himself and asked for Thomas Pynchon he told him he had the wrong
>address. He then fled to Guanajuato.

I didn't intend to question the authenticity of Pynchon's shyness and his
desire to preserve as much privacy as he can -- although I see that my post
might be read as a cynical take on the whole issue.  It's mainly the
derogatory "trashy" in that subject line -- clumsy of me, I admit. 

>I think the subsequent media response to this action was gratifying to him
>and that he then became aware of the value of his attitude, but I don't
>think he thought it out in advance. I think it was and is absolutely sincere.

I can only speculate on this, but that's my guess too.  Luckily for him,
it's an attitude that he can also capitalize on, and in good conscience too.
I feel that with _M&D_ that's exatly the tack he's chosen to take.  Perhaps
it's simple squeemishness that makes some of us uncomfortable with the fact
that Pynchon can now have his cake and eat it too.  

>I agree that his myth is based in large part on his media
>phobia, but the most significant part is his work itself. 

Exactly.  The myth, however, and inevitably, has played its role in helping
sell his books over the last decade or so.  It's now being used by his
publicity people to push _Mason & Dixon_.  Holt's PR strategy has Pynchon's
full endorsement [he's always had an exceptional degree of control over that
and other aspects of his dealings with the publishing indstry].  The man is
a professional writer, after all, not a diarist.  

Vaska