TRP hard up for cash???

[Peter Giordano]

Somebody said:
>> Where was it that I read ([the ifc??]) Pynchon wrote
>> Vineland to make some money to be able to continue
>> writing his more meaningful and difficult(?) works?

Somebody else responds:
>'course he did receive that MacArthur Fellowship in '88, two years before
>Vineland was published.  $310k over five years buys a lot of Rolling Rock
>and typing paper.

I say:
The response is of course correct - Plus there is a little thing called
royalties for all
the various editions of the works still in print - Anybody can make up
a story about Pynchon's motives for writing VINELAND but logic
dictates that one should carefully consider the source of the
story AND also consider the rational behind the need to spread
false stories - It certainly gives one an elevated sense of importance
to make claims which can not be proven - Has anybody seen an
interview with TRP where he says he was broke and so wrote
VINELAND?  Has anybody seen GR go out of print?

Peter Giordano
Williams College
Williamstown, MA