TRP hard up for cash???

[Chris Sweet]

Peter Giordano wrote:
> 
> 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

TRP got a $700,000 advance on the paperback rights for Vineland.
Not a bad chunk of change.

-chris