Pynchon & Orwell

[Otto]

Doug Millison:
> I do believe that Pynchon does a good job of representing in his fiction
> the world in which we live.
>

I don't think Pynchon's fiction is mimetic.

>
> You might want to read the article in the current issue of Pynchon Notes,
> which I mentioned here not long ago, "A Couple-Three Bonzos:
> "Introduction," Slow Learner and 1984" by Terry Reilly.
>

The Intro and the Outro
I just read the essay. Seems as if the "Messrs. North, Poindexter,
McFarland" (PN 44-45, p. 9) have read "Slow Learner" before appearing at the
Iran-Contra hearings. Don't get me wrong, if anyone is able to deal properly
with "1984" then it's Pynchon but much of what Reilly writes is very
far-stretched. And he does give no info at all when these hearings did
happen or what his sources on this are.

His info that in "the early 1970s" (...) a rock group named The Bonzo Dog
Band released an album called *Introduction*" (PN 44-45, 12) seems to be
only partially right too.

"The Bonzo Dog Dada Band was formed in the period 1962-1965, named after
George Studdy's famous 1920s/30s postcard puppy Bonzo Dog and the Dada
anti-art movement. (...) The Bonzos played their final gig at Loughborough
University in March 1970, though their contract required one more album:
Let's Make Up And Be Friendly. There was a reunion single No Matter Who You
Vote For, The Government Always Gets In for the 1987 General Election but it
wasn't released until 1992."
http://www.cam.anglia.ac.uk/~systimk/music/bonzos/History.Html
http://www.cam.anglia.ac.uk/~systimk/music/bonzos/Pics/Poster.Jpg
I cannot find the referenced album "Introduction" from 1970 on the website
but there's a song called "The Intro and the Outro" by Vivian Stanshall on
their first LP "Gorilla" [Oct-67 Liberty LBL/LBS 83056 (also Sunset SLS
50160) 1980 United Artists LBR 1019 One Way Records S21 17370 (USA)] which
re-appeared on the 1970 group's "Best of" after their split with the lyrics
Riley quotes:
http://www.cam.anglia.ac.uk/~systimk/music/bonzos/Tracks/Intro-Outro.Htmlx
Hi there, nice to be with you, glad you could stick around.
Like to introduce `Legs' Larry Smith, drums
And Sam Spoons, rhythm pole
And Vernon Dudley Bohay-Nowell, bass guitar
And Neil Innes, piano.
Come in Rodney Slater on the saxophone
With Roger Ruskin Spear on tenor sax.
I, Vivian Stanshall, trumpet.
Say hello to big John Wayne, xylophone
And Robert Morley, guitar.
Billy Butlin, spoons.
And looking very relaxed, Adolf Hitler on vibes.
Nice!
Princess Anne on sousaphone.
Mmm.
Introducing Liberace, clarinet
With Garner "Ted" Armstrong on vocals.
[Jazzy scat singing]
Lord Snooty and his pals, tap dancing.
In the groove with Harold Wilson, violin
And Franklin McCormack on harmonica.
Over there, Eric Clapton, ukulele.
Hi Eric!
On my left Sir Kenneth Clark, bass sax.
A great honour, sir.
And specially flown in for us, the session's gorilla on vox humana.
Nice to see Incredible Shrinking Man on euphonium.
Drop out with Peter Scott on duck call.
Hearing from you later, Casanova on horn.
Yeah! Digging General de Gaulle on accordion.
Rather wild, General!
Thank you, sir.
Roy Rogers on Trigger.
Tune in Wild Man of Borneo on bongos.
Count Basie Orchestra on triangle.
[CBO:] (Ting!)
Thank you.
Great to hear the Rawlinsons on trombone.
Back from his recent operation, Dan Druff, harp.
And representing the flower people, Quasimodo on bells.
[Q:] Hooray!
Wonderful to hear Brainiac on banjo.
We welcome Val Doonican as himself.
[V:] Hullo there!
Very appealing, Max Jaffa.
Mmm, that's nice, Max!
What a team, Zebra Kid and Horace Batchelor on percussion.
A great favourite and a wonderful performer of all of us here, J. Arthur
Rank on gong.

But this doesn't speak at all against Reilly's thesis that Pynchon had been
thinking of the Bonzo song with the binary title when writing his
"Introduction" to "Slow Learner" -- they bear resemblances to one of his
favourite bands, Spike Jones and His
City Slickers, but I've heard only little from Spike Jones while I remember
The Bonzos and especially "The Intro and the Outro" well.

>
> And I guess you realise it's 2001, not 1984. Hard to keep track when
> you're so involved with Uranus, I guess.
>

Wish you did too!

Otto