The infamous former classmate of TRP

[Peter Giordano]

I will make the following comments then I will state a few facts
and these will be my last postings to or about the infamous
former classmate of TRP

It must be both degrading and satisfying to Mr. Pynchon that
the infamous former classmate has made a career, and has dined
out for decades on this brief and insignificant association 

It is degrading because the infamous former classmate's association
is noteworthy only in the context of a general lack of information
about TRP - In other words, if TRP weren't so secretive than
the infamous former classmate (henceforth the ifc) would have faded into the
wood work decades ago (not that the ifc has ever been too far
out of the wood work)

It is satisfying because it helps to justify TRP's desire for privacy -
Any yokel can come out and sell a stolen piece of TRP's life "I
DELIVERED MAIL TO THE APARTMENT OF A FAMOUS
AUTHOR" - "WHAT IS PYNCHON WRITING ABOUT? JOIN
US AS WE RUMMAGE THROUGH THE DUMPSTER BEHIND
HIS HOUSE!"

Such behavior is vulgar and cheap but it is not far from what the ifc 
has been doing for thirty years - One wonders about a person who
would boast about his or her spouse's infidelities merely to get the
attention of a room full of strangers

Another interesting issuet is the ifc's current behavior on  Pynchon-L -
It fundamentally demonstrates one of TRP's major themes : the
dehumanizing and corrupting  influences of technology - Where
else can a person lie, cheat, and steal to the degree that it's done
here? Where else can a person broadcast misinformation to such 
a degree?  

The ifc "career" is sort of like Bela Lugosi's - After a minor career,
rejected by the industry he or she so desperately wants to be a
part of, the ifc has created the interent equivalent of an Ed Wood
movie - Indications of this desperation are: the constant touting of
the glorious resume, the inability to cope with anything even remotely
resembling criticism, the ever-present referrals to the past and previous
victories (which upon examination seem trite), the explanation
of current rejection as "they don't understand my work," and the constant
updating of "the enemies list" (anybody who disagrees with the ifc is
scum and worthy of the most childishly vicious insults)

Now here are facts, which, because I stated them, I am on this
enemies list (not a bad place to be since includes TRP):

1) Anybody who in 1997 claims to be publishing the first
book based on internet correspondence is a fraud - There
are dozens, if not hundreds, of such books - And any
reputable publisher would know that

2) Viking Press did not start out as a private vanity
press in somebody's basement 

3) Anybody who in 1997 claims to be publishing
the first book completely designed by the author
is a fraud - This has been going on for centuries, and
now with computer graphics and word processing
is very, very, common - Any reputable
publisher would know this

It is a tribute Pynchon's genius that there is such
a thing as PYNCHON-L - It is pathetic that it
can be used as a tool by somebody who stands
for the opposite of what Mr. Pynchon fights
for in his work 

Peter Giordano
Williams College
Williamstown, MA