re correspondence with Playboy Japan

[Paul Mackin]

On Thu, 2003-02-20 at 10:08, David Morris wrote:
> 
> --- Terrance <lycidas2 at earthlink.net> wrote:
> >  While it is true that we did discuss this, we never nailed anything down.
> Maybe it's a hoax. Maybe not.[...]
> > Other possibilities include, Pynchon did correspond with someone at Playboy
> Japan, but what they published is not accurate or is poorly put together (this
> possibility was introduced with the first translation that was posted to this
> list by the person who translated it for Doug)
> 
> What Pynchon is purported to have said in the translation is so inane that I
> favor the theory above.  What we've been given is a double translation: first
> from Pynchon's english to the magazine's japanese (highly unreliable, I'd say,
> and the probable prime source of the stupidity of the interview), and then from
> japanese back to us.

Yes, anything translated from English to Japanese back to English is
going to be a pretty godawful mess even if the original thoughts had
been brilliant.. The thing we don't know, and what no amount of so 
called research by outsiders, it likely to reveal is how, where, and
whether the Pincher was actually involved in what appeared in the
magazine. The magazine apparently didn't and won't provide this
information. It's something even the most incompetent of translators 
would have picked up IF IT HAD BEEN THERE ANYWHERE TO PICK UP.  

Anyway, what difference does it make?

P.