Pynchon & Gibson on meat

[Tod Mahony]

Brett Coley wrote: 
> 
> I always thought W. Gibson owed a lot to a certain Mr. Brunner, among
> others.  I don't see the Pynchon connection, what am I missing here?
> It's been a while since I read Neuromancer, and I haven't felt like
> going back and rereading it, but I don't remember it seeming
> particularly "Pynchonian".
> 

Toward the end of Gravity's Rainbow there's a passage that REALLY reminded me
of the 'contempt for the corporeal' theme that runs through Gibson's books. 
"Dope never gave you immortality.  You hadda come back every time. . .into a
dying hunk of smelly meat!" (GR p699)  That term "meat", in particular, is
used in the same derogatory fashion by Gibson's characters.  

Timothy Leary once interviewed William Gibson for Mondo 2000 (scary, I know). 
At one point the subject turned to Gravity's Rainbow, and each of them
described the circumstances of their first GR read.  Leary's was in prison. 
Gibson said something about his graduate work going to pot while he did
nothing but read the book for months on end.  

That's my little pop culture story for the day.


Tod

(Once again, thanks for the concordance, Tim!  Even if I had the book here at
work, I would never have found that page.)