Pynchon and Jesse the Body

[The Great Quail]

 From Garrison Keillor in the Times, regarding the "absent" governor 
of Minnesota:

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/19/opinion/19KEIL.html

[...] The problem with being a caretaker is that you have very little 
to show for it, no large ideas to proclaim, no triumphs to celebrate, 
no ribbons to cut. You're just a guy sitting in a boat in calm water 
and not tipping it over. After a while, people's attention wanders.

Disappearance is a great way to attract attention, to become the 
Garbo of governors, the Pynchon politician. [...]