another sighting of rumo[u]r of new Pynchon book...

[Richard Romeo]

I suspect staff who in some way handle Pynchon's books, correspondence, contracts, etc. must have to sign a confidentiality agreement as required for employment.  Ms Jackson must run a pretty tight ship


I do agree with jbor here that Pynchon notice has been of a non-US variety

Something else I've been thinking about re: new novel. I've categorized pynchons books as male or female dominated, usually through the focus of main characters--this is crude I know but just dreaming in the dark here

V=(male)
49=oedipal (female)
GR=slothrop (male)
Vineland=female
M&D=male
New book?=focus on female mathematician?

Richard 
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On Behalf Of jbor
Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 6:47 AM
To: pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: Re: another sighting of rumo[u]r of new Pynchon book...

The French literary gossip article leads off with a sly little dig about how
Pynchon's new book is "the best kept secret in America", as Erik pointed out
when he kindly posted the article to the list. Thinking about the way it was
phrased there I did think it noteworthy that info from within the U.S. about
the new novel has been non-existent, and similarly that info from there
about what Pynchon has been up to has often either been just plain wrong
(the Tinasky hoax) or else picked up by way of some auxiliary report. For
example, the news about the Simpsons appearances wasn't mentioned until
after the fact -- gleaned from promos for the new series rather than from
any specific information that Pynchon had signed up or was even considering
doing the show. Same with the Intro for the Centenary edition of 1984, the
fax exchange with David Hajdu etc.

I'm not sure how an observation like that can be an affront to anyone in
particular, let alone the entire American nation, but so be it -- it
certainly wasn't my intention. What the latest "failure of U.S.
intelligence" (goak) does illustrate is that Pynchon and his publishers have
been extremely effective in not leaking anything about the new book (or much
of anything else) to the media or publishing industry spooks in the U.S.,
and that they have maintained this secrecy deliberately, for whatever
reasons, and it might be interesting to speculate on what those reasons are.
At the other extreme, of course, the two Simpsons appearances (and the 1984
Intro) have brought Pynchon's name and reputation and voice to new levels of
prominence in the public sphere -- and in a very unusual way -- over the
last year or so, just in time for the release of the new novel.

I think it's worth keeping an eye on this sort of contextual stuff.

As far as the Playboy Japan "interview" goes, nearly three years on now, if
it is ever eventually acknowledged as something Pynchon agreed to do, then
it'd be great to see the English transcipt of his comments properly
published somewhere. The remark about Osama bin Laden as Bush's "rodeo
clown" does seem as if it could be prescient in the light of subsequent
events, and maybe in its original form the sense of his comments is more
intelligible than in the current garbled retranslation from the Japanese. On
the other hand, the fact that those who promote it here have remained
obstinately unwilling even to consider seeking verification of its status
from Pynchon's representatives leaves a lot of room for doubt, particularly
in the light of the whole Tinasky debacle.

best

>> on 5/11/04 12:54 AM, Erik T. Burns wrote:
>>> 
>>> "the best-kept secret in America"?
>>> from Le Nouvel Observateur's culture gossip column.
>>> etb 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Téléphone rouge
>>> 225 Words
>>> 04 November 2004
>>> Le Nouvel Observateur
>>> 145
>>> 2087
>>> French
>>> (c) 2004 Le Nouvel Observateur
>>> 
>>> Téléphone rouge
>>> 
>>> <snip> C'est le secret le mieux gardé d'Amérique: , l'auteur culte de
>>> «l'Arc-en-ciel de gravité», l'écrivain silencieux qui a toujours refusé tout
>>> contact avec les journalistes, aurait entrepris la rédaction d'un nouveau
>>> roman, selon Michael Naumann, directeur de « Die Zeit » et ancien
>>> collaborateur de l'éditeur de Pynchon, Henry Holt: l'action se déroulerait à
>>> Gottingen au début du xxe siècle, et narrerait les aventures d'une jeune
>>> mathématicienne russe. <snip>
>>> 
>>>