Lineland as Pynchon Authority (redux)

[Jules Siegel]

At 10:25 PM 05/10/97 -0400, jester <jester at snet.net> wrote:

>Jules goes to great lengths to state that the book is NOT about Pynchon,
that if you're looking for material about Pynchon you won't find it in his
book. 

I make a one sentence statement early in the book about this. I didn't say
there's no material about Pynchon in it.

>The back flap reads like some marvelous advertisement for soap opera or
trashy pop novel -- of course the book doesn't deliver on this -- it's just
used to attract, imho.

I wrote the back cover copy. Actually it's a dry-as-toast satire on a
romance novel blurb. I got the idea from Chrissie's drawing, which is a
satire on a romance novel cover illustration. I guess I should have
telegraphed the joke, but I like to let people get my humor without
explanation. I've asked Dale to expand my back cover credit to include the
text, but I don't know if there's still enough time for this. If he can't do
this, I think the ruckus the back cover will create among those who take it
literally may have some value anyway.

About my credibility:

Every article published in Playboy goes through a rigorous fact-checking
procedure and legal approval. I do note that there's a discrepancy in my
spelling of Pynchon in The House of Seven Gables, which apparently should
have been Pyncheon. I wonder if Hawthorne might have changed the spelling
after receiving the complaint from a living Pynchon. It's very unlike
Playboy to have let something like this go by. I don't remember seeing the
Pyncheon spelling in my original source for the item.

Ultimately, the article was accepted on the basis of three factors:

[1] Arthur Kretchmer's experience with my performance over the years as a
journalist. I have never been sued for libel in my entire career and I have
rarely, if ever, been caught in a significant error of fact. I have an
unchallenged reputation for absolute integrity and editorial honesty.

[2] He had personally met Judith Pynchon when she and I once dated. He also
knew and dealt with Candida Donadio, who was Pynchon's literary agent and
mine as well. Pynchon recommended me to Candida in the first place. Arthur
also published selections from letters that Pynchon had sent me on two
previous occasions. Candida would not have allowed me to do this if they
were spurious and if I had no relationship with Thomas Pynchon. She was my
literary agent in both of those instances.

[3] It's own literary merit. I don't want to get into another tiresome
argument about this. The piece speaks for itself and is held in very high
regard, although I don't think anyone considers it in the category of
"Family Secrets," which is generally acknowledged to be my best story.

Lineland has some charming glimpses of Thomas Pynchon, which would still
have some value if he weren't so media-shy. They serve to draw attention to
the book but it will succeed on its own merits.

What exactly are Peter Giordano's qualifications for making his statements
about publishing history and so on? Has he ever worked in the industry,
published anything at all, much less scores of articles in the world's
leading publications? I gather he's a librarian at a college in
Massachusetts. I'm sure that's very admirable, but if he considers my list
of credits insignificant, what significance would we assign to his not
having any credits at all?

--
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