Watts article

[jbor]

http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_essays_watts.html

on 30/9/04 8:41 AM, jbor wrote:

> Addressing his reader, Pynchon writes:
> 
> "You are likely to hear from them wisdom on the order
> of: 'Life has a way of surprising us, simply as a
> function of time. Even if all you do is stand on the
> street corner and wait.'"
> 
> In other words, if "you" (the reader) ever do go to Watts and talk to the
> people there, you're "likely to hear" this sort of comment, *because it's a
> comment I heard and am quoting to you now*.

Should have made it clear that this statement was made by one of the workers
at the Watts E.Y.O.A -- "the well-adjusted, middle-class professionals,
Negro and white, who man the mimeographs and computers of the poverty war",
and who Pynchon also spoke with in researching his article.

It also appears that Pynchon pulled that standard current affairs journalism
stunt of following (or leading) one of his informants along to the E.Y.O.A.
office and recording the confrontation between the kid and one of the
"poverty warriors" there. See the recorded exchange between the "particular
kid" who had been "put down" when applying for a job with a defense
contractor and the "white lady volunteer" at the E.Y.O.A. (paragraphs 31-5).

best