pynchon-l-digest V2 #2495

[Doug Millison]

This corroborates what I have heard privately from two independent sources:
Pynchon appears to have been interviewed in the U.S. by a Japanese
journalist with a personal connection to P. Only a Japanese version of the
article has been published in Playboy Japan with no plans to publish an
English-language version in the U.S.

I hesitate to speculate on reasons for the lack of attention to this
interview on the part of U.S. journalists but if pressed would guess that
journalists with an interest in Pynchon don't track the Japanese press very
closely and aren't following the P-list discussion these days.

I have heard of no action legal or otherwise taken by Mr. Pynchon to
distance himself from the Playboy Japan interview or to challenge its
authenticity.

Re Mothra, some readers have suggested that Pynchon's attention to Japanese
sci-fi bears fruit in Vineland.



>Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 15:42:08 +0000
>From: "Richard Romeo" <richardromeo at hotmail.com>
>Subject: Playboy Japan interview with TRP
>
>For the hell of it, I contacted Playboy Japan to see if I could buy a copy
>of the Jan 2002 issue where the interview appeared.  As it turns out I
>couldn't but I did ask the nice people over there in the editorial dept if
>the interview took place in Japan.
>
>This is their reply:
>
>Dear Mr. Romeo,
>
>I'm sorry we can't answer your question specificly.
>All we can say is that it was arranged by his very very close person and we
>luckily and privately used his connection.
>Thanks for your understanding in advance.
>
>Best regards,
>
>Editorial Department of PLAYBOY JAPANESE EDITION
>
>One would guess that Pynchon was not in Japan. I read a recent article that
>noted that the Newsweek article in 1975 that said Pynchon was working on M&D
>and a book about Mothra, was in part a joke, seeing as he never intended to
>write a book about Mothra. That Pynchon, always playing with our heads.
>
>Rich
>
>