mythmaking and fact

[Doug Millison]

"jbor"
"And you were quite correct: he's not really "talking to journalists" 
either. He faxed a couple-three replies to *one* biographer. There's 
certainly a world of difference there!"

...a world of difference indeed:

"Hajdu conducted hundreds of interviews for each of his books, but 
his favorite source is someone he's never met.  The reclusive Thomas 
Pynchon, who was a close friend of Farina's, replied (by fax) to an 
extensive list of questions and permitted Hajdu to quote from his 
correspondence. 'This is the guy who enjoined the Morgan Library from 
making his letters available to scholars until after his death!' 
exclaims the author, who describes their epistolary exchanges as 'one 
of the most exhilerating research experiences of my life.' "

from:
"PW Interview
David Hajdu
Joan & Bob & Richard & Mimi"
June 11, 2001 Publisher's Weekly, p. 52



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