Pynchon's interviews

[pynchonoid]

Hajdu is lavish with his praise of Pynchon for the
impact the interview had on the book-- you could look
it up in the book's Acknowledgements and Notes, I
provided urls in an earlier post. I'm not sure what's
gained in obscuring Hajdu's gratitude for Pynchon's
help or in disparaging it as "a few faxed sheets of
biographical
reminiscences" in the absence of any firm knowledge --
which I seriously doubt that jbor possesses -- about
how extended the Hajdu-Pynchon exchange was and how
much material Hajdu might have collected in the
interview. 

Now that the Playboy Japan article has been accepted
and published in the Pynchon Notes bibliography,
knowing the care with which PN editors address their
responsibilities, I'm assuming we can have as much
faith in it as we can regarding other PN
bibliographical items, such as the article by Robert
Jackson in the current issue. To question the
authenticity of Pynchon's Playboy Japan interview now
-- after PN's editors have chosen to include it --
casts a shadow on the other PN bibliographical items,
and, again, I'm not sure why jbor is in such a fever
to discredit fellow Pynchon researchers, not to
mention calling into question the work practice of the
editors who have chosen to publish his own article. 
Is the academic job scene really such that a newcomer
can only break in and establish a reputation by
casting aspersions on other Pynchon critics and the
editors of the community's journal?

Pynchon obviously likes to talk to some reporters
because he has granted two interviews in recent years.
If he hadn't wanted to give the interviews, he
wouldn't have done so, just as has managed to pass up
previous opportunities.

I continue to be surprised at the hoops people will
jump through and the way they will stretch the truth
and even lie, in order to preserve the myth -- which
Pynchon has rejected -- of Pynchon as a recluse who
hates reporters and "never" grants interviews. It's a
distortion of who he is, a rejection of Pynchon's
complexity, ignoring the facts in order to create an
image that fits a particular literary-critical box,
suppressing the facts that would create a more
problematic and less hidebound view of the man and his
interactions with the press. 

 

jbor:
[...]  two so-called "interviews" (one
incredibly dubious, the other a few faxed sheets of
biographical
reminiscences in response to a query from a
researching author) [...]


	
		
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