am i a book fetishist?

[Michael McAulay]

Tony Elias wrote:

> I mention these mundanities because p-listers are the only people who might
> relate to the queer senation of holding it, looking at its gorgeous cover
> and binding, finally having it in your hands, yours. reading it is another
> kind of joy altogether, right now, it's just the book, the object. Is this a
> derivate of some strange commodity fetishism - or is it a bibliophilia of a
> peculiarly Pynchonian character?

You're not the only one.  I experienced something very similar when I
purchased my copy.  Time slowed perceptibly as I approached the shop (in
a mall - teeming with people who mysteriously seemed NOT TO CARE NOR
EVEN KNOW that as of that day a new Pynchon work had been made
available).  When I spied the display case I felt a distinct twinge in
my abdomen.  And then...ah, the heft of it.

As I passed over the threshold on my way out of the store I felt as if
were getting away with something...as if I had stolen a relic from a
sacred place.  Surely it could not be so easy?

The last time I can remember a book affecting me similarly was...well,
Vineland.  And before that Slow Learner.  So it is certainly peculiar to
Pynchon in my case.

-- 
Mike McAulay
Sr. Engineer
3DO