Pynchon's "Knewspeak"

[jbor]

on 16/2/03 5:30 AM, Richard Romeo at romeocheeseburger at yahoo.com wrote:

>> There's a good chance it's just another
>> attempted hoax pulled by a
>> sad little Internet troll with nothing better to do.
>> 
>> best
>> --------> 
> that would be me. i do rather fancy trolls, tho dude

Goodness no. I didn't say that you were the one who fabricated the news, nor
did I mean to imply that you personally are in the habit of trying to pull
Internet hoaxes, posting as multiple pseudonyms, impersonating other people,
sending fake requests for info to on-line discussion lists etc. You surely
don't do any of that, do you?

So far there's a Barnes & Noble listing and that's it. No news from Plume
Books or Penguin USA. And I don't see how publication (in paperback) in 2003
could be called a "Centennial Edition". Alarm bells sound.

There have been other attempted pynchon-related hoaxes in the recent past -
that Japan Playboy "interview", the switching of Pynchon's note of support
for Rushdie in the NYTimes archives, the Tinasky letters etc. I'm not saying
that Pynchon hasn't written a foreword to 1984, and that the edition won't
be published this May, or that I wouldn't welcome it if and when it does
appear, only that, on past experience, some scepticism is warranted.

best