TRP hard up for cash???

[MASCARO at humnet.ucla.edu]

Where did you hear this rumor?  It sounds suspiciously like an update of the old rumor 
that TRP wrote COL49 for exact same reasons.  This makes much more sense than 
VINELAND, IMO, to wit:   V. was his only money-making publication at the time; he 
hadn't yet gotten the McArthur; he was undoubtedly working on GR when CL49 was 
publ;ished; Jules hadn't yet made him famous.
john m
*********************
somebodies is saying:

>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?
>