re Re: Pynchon's interview with David Hajdu

[pynchonoid]

A dictionary definition can never offer more than a
snapshot of the way a word is used at a particular
moment in time and necessarily lags behind current
usage. It would be interesting to see how the usage of
"interview" has evolved over time. Maybe somebody who
has access to the OED online or CD-ROM versions might
be able to help out here.  

In practice, of course, journalists conduct several
kinds of interviews -- in-person, telephone, email,
fax, videoconference, postal mail.  Each has its
advantages and drawbacks but they all share the same
structure:  the interviewer asks questions designed to
elicit information on which to base an article (for
publication in a newspaper, magazine, book, web site,
or for broadcast or streaming media) which the
interviewee answers. It's this question and answer
structure plus the intentional nature of the exchange
(to gather information for use in an article for
publication or broadcast) that, among practicing
journalists today, defines an interview, not the
location or medium in which it's conducted. This is
what distinguishes the interview from library
research, receipt of an unsolicited tip or documents,
eavesdropping on a conversation, etc., as a means of
information gathering. Many publications now indicate
the kind of interview that was the source of a quote
or fact; the NY Times often does, to name one
prominent example.

It remains factually incorrect to say that Pynchon
"never" conducts interviews when, in fact, he's
granted at least two interviews (to Hajdu, to Playboy
Japan) in recent years -- an important correction to
make, imo, in the face of continuing efforts by some
readers to promulgate the myth of "Pynchon the
recluse", applying a label that Pynchon himself has
rejected.

Likewise, I'm not sure what's gained by calling
Pynchon a "loon" except to advance the  related notion
that he's some kind of idiot savant who manages to
channel the marvelous literature published in his
name, or that his published work is somehow the fruit
of drug use.  What we do know about his life and
writing practice suggests a diligent researcher who
spends years crafting and polishing his works, with
sources of information and inspiration that are very
much a part of mundane reality -- the way his Boeing
journalism appears to have contributed to his creation
of _Gravity's Rainbow_, for example (be sure to read
"A Trove of New Works by Thomas Pynchon? The Bomarc
Service News Rediscovered" by
Adrian Wisnicki in the current issue of Pynchon Notes
for more on that subject). 





	
		
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