Pynchon-Tinasky

[jbor]

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>From: Eric Rosenbloom <ericr at sadlier.com>
>

> In Vineland, I would say that the Tube favorites are Zoyd Wheeler's, a
> fictional character, not necessarily the writer's.

Not all of them are Zoyd's. Frenesi, Prairie, Isaiah, Hector, Justin: all of
them watch tv, but even the narrator gets in on the act occasionally too.
But, even so, Zoyd is a character with whom Pynchon has some empathy,
surely?

> In the letters, they
> are Wanda Tinasky's, another fictional character.

A moment ago you were arguing that she was a persona taken on so he could
"vent" his "personal" opinions.

MalignD's example of Hemingway's *private* correspondence doesn't really
match up imo. "Wanda" wrote letters to an editor, which presupposes quite a
different context and audience, and one might assume purpose, than what
Hemingway was doing when he was writing his letters. And his point about
style being no proof, while accurate, applies as much to those who suggest
that "Wanda" was Pynchon (if not in fact more so).

If Pynchon's fiction were *all* we had to go on then I'd agree with MalignD
that the dissimilarities amounted to nought. But it's not just a question of
comparing the style of the letters to the style of the novels, for we've got
at least two letters to the editor, a journalistic article, several
non-fiction essays and book introductions, lots of dust cover blurbs, as
well as the autobiographical 'Intro' to _SL_ written at just about the same
time, and the contrast between these similarly-public prose pieces is
marked.

As far as I'm aware, Pynchon has only ever made one public statement to the
effect that he is not Wanda, so the contention about "repeated instances" is
a fabrication. Though I take that disclaimer at face value, I had already
looked at the Letters and decided for myself.

As far as the subjunctive assertion about "if nobody had ever thought they
were Pynchon's work", well, I get the impression that once the suggestion
was made, and it was made quite early on in the piece, "Wanda" did in fact
start to play on it. One of our list hosts, Murthy, made the complaint last
time the topic came up, that "Wanda" never actually said "she" was Pynchon
-- that it "was a rap other people put on" her -- but I believe that from
about the time of the letter where she talks about having worked at Boeing,
if not even before this one, "she" was playing on the misapprehension others
held that "she" was in fact Pynchon.

best