Rushdie and Pynchon

[Orlowsky at aol.com]

In a message dated 7/4/00 8:29:45 AM, dsimpson at condor.depaul.edu writes:

<< Am wondering, anybody ever pursue a Rushdie-Pynchon connection? Are they
pen pals, mutual admirers, literary lunch buddies, or anything? >>

This is from an interview with Rushdie in the October 1997 issue of The 
Progressive:

I met Thomas Pynchon. Yes, it’s true. Yes, it’s because I reviewed Vineland, 
and he liked the review. And before that, he sent me a very nice message of 
solidarity, of support. But after the review of Vineland appeared in The New 
York Times, he sort of made contact and intimated that, should I be in New 
York, he would be available for a meeting. So we had one. And I must say, the 
thing that was deeply pleasurable and comforting was that he was exactly like 
Thomas Pynchon. You know what I mean? You have a picture in your head of 
Thomas Pynchon, and then this other guy shows up and says, “Hi, I’m Thomas 
Pynchon.” And you’re wrong. Well, this did not happen. He showed up and 
looked exactly like the Thomas Pynchon I’d always known.
    He began shy and ended up fantastically talkative about three o’clock in 
the morning, when I was kind of propping my eyelids open with matchsticks, 
thinking, “It’s Thomas Pynchon, stay awake.” And he was saying, “Gee, I 
guess you want to go to bed now?” I said, “No, no, not at all.” And so he 
went on and on and we had a great time. It satisfied.