the picture via Jester..

[Joel Weierman]

Well, the picture is out now, and are we really
any better off for seeing a blurred photo
of our beloved author holding hands with his kid.

I have that guilty feeling like when one's mother
comes in one's room and catches one in the "act."

But more than that, I feel somewhat hollow inside
now that I know what he looks like. It doesn't
change his literature, but it does change the
image that I have in my mind when someone
mentions "Thomas Pynchon." Before seeing
THE PICTURE, I would have imagined various
book jackets and scenes within stories, etc.
But now I am more likely to conjure up the image
of a man in a brown jacket holding his kids hand.
His blank expression ads absolutely nothing to 
what his works tell about the man himself.

Thomas Pynchon deserves to be remembered by his words,
not by his face. I believe this is one of the author's 
motives in not wanting to go public. America does not
have anyone like Thomas Pynchon left. Before the
invention of print media and T.V., America only
knew people by their words and ideas. Now we only 
know them by their "face and appearance."

I encourage you to think twice before looking at 
the picture of Thomas Pynchon on Jester's page.
It may leave you feeling more empty inside
than you initially imagined.


-Joel Weierman
who still hasn't gotten through Mason & Dixon!!
joel at typhoon.co.jp