Hajdu on his interview with Pynchon (quote from Publishers Weekly)

[RUTHSINGS at aol.com]

As the PW excerpt makes clear--as well as the endnotes to Positively 4th 
Street--David Hajdu never spoke to Pynchon, but conducted the interview by 
fax.  Indeed, Hajdu's remarks emphasize how carefully Pynchon guards his 
privacy.

And I believe that Pynchon sent a letter to CNN and did not make a telephone 
call, but even if he did call, it was off the record because it certainly 
wasn't broadcast.  Doug, do you think you might concede that there is a 
qualitative difference between communication by writing and communication by 
speech in real time?  The subject is able to maintain maximum control when 
the interview is done through some means of writing.  He can take the time to 
craft his words carefully and can even refuse to answer a question without 
appearing evasive, as would be the case in a real-time interview.  I believe 
that, for this reason, Nabokov insisted that he be interviewed only in 
writing.

It's true that Pynchon interviewed members of the band Lotion for Esquire in 
real time, but in that case he was the interviewer and thus was able to 
maintain control of the piece.

And so I ask: Can you point to another instance in which Pynchon spoke on the 
record in real time as an interviewee?  If not, then perhaps you might 
acknowledge why the Playboy Japan interview, if proven to be legit, would 
represent a significant departure from Pynchon's previous dealings with the 
press.

Ruth


>Joan & Bob & Richard & Mimi
>by Wendy Smith -- 6/11/2001
>PW Interview

>"[...] 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 Fariña'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
>exhilarating research experiences of my life." [...]

Doug wrote:

>This has been discussed here many times but here you go again (glad I have
>this info at my fingertips for you today): Pynchon talked to CNN by
>telephone in 1997. And he allowed himself to be interviewed by David Hajdu
>for his book Positively 4th Street : The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob
>Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina, and Richard Farina which was published last year