Homer Pynchon

[Burns, Erik]

foax: yet another confirmation of Simpsons "appearance." -etb

PYNCHON AND HOMER
Ideas
Joshua Glenn
325 Words
19 October 2003
The Boston Globe
THIRD
L.2
English

Copyright (c) 2003 Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All
rights reserved.

BACK IN JUNE, we expressed surprise that the famously reclusive novelist
Thomas Pynchon had contributed a foreword to a new reissue of George
Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four." Just a few weeks later, however, the online
diarist responsible for the website Ohdog.org reported another unexpected
Pynchon sighting. While supervising a voiceover for a lipstick commercial in
New York on July 24, the diarist, a TV editor, learned that a "chatty"
Pynchon had been in the same studio that day recording a guest appearance
for "The Simpsons."

This may have struck some Pynchon-philes as an unlikely story. After all, in
his ongoing efforts to resist being co-opted by an all- absorbing System,
Pynchon has not only eschewed interviews, bookstore signings, and publicity
photos. He has also refused to permit any representation of his likeness to
appear on the television screen. When a Pynchon sighting became a plot point
in a 1994 episode of NBC's "The John Larroquette Show," the show's producers
sent Pynchon the script for his approval; the novelist reportedly vetoed a
final scene that called for an extra playing him to be filmed from behind,
walking away.

So why "The Simpsons"? Perhaps Pynchon was flattered by a May 2002 episode
in which Lisa Simpson is bowled over by a college girl carrying one of his
more difficult books. LISA (awed): "Are you reading `Gravity's Rainbow'?"
COLLEGE GIRL (snidely): "Well, rereading."

"Simpsons" writer and executive producer Al Jean confirmed in a recent
interview with the entertainment website IGN.com that Pynchon will indeed
play himself on a show in the new 15th season, which begins next month. In
the episode in question, a novel by blue- coiffed homemaker Marge Simpson
wins endorsements from Pynchon and airport-novel writer Tom Clancy, among
others.

According to Al Jean, the cartoon version of Pynchon will be wearing a paper
bag over his head.


The Examined Life