is Pynchon a recluse?

[Doug Millison]

I don't understand what it adds to our understanding of Pynchon to continue
to assert the myth that he doesn't talk to journalists or that he is in
general some sort of recluse or eccentric hermit -- a myth which Hajdu has
clearly shattered in the Publishers Weekly interview and in his new book.
This myth perpetuates the view of Pynchon as some sort of eccentric recluse,
feeding into the rather distorted picture of him that has been created in
the single case of a friend of P's who has chosen to write and talk about P
in a series of uncorroborated articles and books that in he end would seem
to say more about that former friend's insecurities than anything
trustworthy about Pynchon. It's damaging because it's a myth that stands in
the way of a fuller perception of P as a multi-faceted human being, part of
the same effort, I would say, that would seek to define P as a
representative of one or another literary genre ("PoMo novelist" whatever
that might be) or movement, part of that Analysis and Control urge that he
seems to condemn in his writings.  The reality is, as is often the case,
even more interesting than the myth. P chooses to limit his contact with
journalists and releases information about himself in what appear to be
carefully measured doses.  (P himself told CNN that the descriptor
"reclusive" which is so often attached to his name in press reports is no
more than a code-word for somebody who doesn't respond to reporters'
inquiries as the reporters would like -- a myth in other words) When
necessary, he acts to protect his privacy (in the case of the Bone photo,
the letters donated to the Morgan Library, etc.). In other ways, he does not
-- Bone was able to find him through publicly available information. It's
clear that P cooperated, to a certain degree at least, with marketing
efforts for M&D.  Apart from the limitations he places on his interaction
with the press,  he seems to be a relatively ordinary person with an
extravagant literary talent. Salman Rushdie, Jim Dodge, and other writers
who have met P and spent time with him do not report him to be eccentric or
hermit-like; to the contrary, he appears to have an active social life,
meets people for lunch, & etc., is described as a regular guy, salt of the
earth or words to that effect is how Jim Dodge described him. I recall
during MDMD we learned that the person who designed the cover for the novel
was able to talk with him on the phone to get his input.  I pointed the
P-list not long ago to interviews with the French translators of M&D in
which they reported a substantial exchange, by fax, with Pynchon. Pynchon
has also replied, by fax, from inquiries from at least two Pynchon-L
participants. I think it's far more interesting to know that while eschewing
celebrity, and not bothering to reply to the inquiries of most journalists
and researchers, Pynchon carefully cultivates and even what is known about
him through what appears to be a cunning manipulation of the press and other
elements in the celebrity-making infrastructure, but that otherwise he leads
a rich social and family life.  If he didn't want to talk to journalists
like Hajdu, or if he really was the hermit that his former college friend
describes (a description that remains highly suspect), Pynchon wouldn't do
it, end of story. Contrast P's cooperation with what Hajdu had to say about
Dylan -- he didn't get even a fax exchange with Dylan and had instead to
rely on archives of a mid-80s interview.