Pynchon's interviews

[neoclassical at mail.com]

> I wonder at the wisdom of finding some defect in the
> fact that Pynchon chooses not to follow other authors
> onto the op-ed page, lecture and TV circuit.

I question the wisdom of such things as institutions, and would like to believe many authors do as well.

> It's a mistake to discount the risk Pynchon took in
> comparing post-9//11 US with Orwell's neofascist
> dystopia, too.  Pynchon published his _1984_
> introduction at a time when artists are routinely
> slimed for not lining up to cheer for Bush's so-called
> "war on terror".

Neofascist? I thought this was a war for "freedom of the Iraqi people," including women's rights, and of course one that benefits both free enterprise, Israel and religious freedom in Iraq.

Seems more Huxleyist than Orwellist :)

> The only reason his essay didn't
> create more waves is because US media ignores all
> book-related developments that aren't actively
> promoted in the appropriate media channels 

While there's truth to what you're saying, I think it's somewhat one sided.

Many celebs have come out with indictments of The Connecticut Transplant and his war on terror/for freedom. Not all of 'em get picked on, and I think Pynchon is a small enough fish in the world of entertainment to fly under that radar. Eminem is a more important public figure, don't you know?

> Meanwhile, Pynchon's books, each of them a perennial
> backlist bestseller,  reach a new generation of
> readers each year, worldwide.  A library of books has
> been written about them, a community of scholars
> studies them, a small army of writers and other arists
> find inspiration in them.  Pynchon's influence thus
> filters into the culture at a fundamental level, with
> lasting impact, instead of evaporating more or less
> immediately with the rest of the comments bandied
> about by flavor-of-the-month media personalities.

This is why literature is a superior artform to, say, rock music.

Then again, we could also say the same thing for Faulkner and Dumas, so...


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