Pynchon's titles (was ...

[Mike Weaver]

Dave toked out again:

>Why isn't it called "Mindless Pleasures" or one of the
>myriad other working titles (none of which I can
>remember, but they're hilarious and I just looked for
>an hour and can't for the life of me remember where I
>saw them all)

Maybe from that Gerald Howard piece on the Book Forum site
http://www.bookforum.com/pynchon.html


>  Then there was the thorny question of the title. Although Mindless 
> Pleasures was used in Viking's original announcement to the press, no one 
> at all seemed pleased with it (it comes from a phrase that occurs twice 
> in the book), and Kennebeck floated, with the air of semidesperation one 
> feels in these situations, such duds as Powers That Be, Angel of the 
> Preterite, Control, and Slothrop Dodging (well, you try it). I'm guessing 
> that Pynchon came up with Gravity's Rainbow, which was perfection. But 
> Kennebeck was the one who hit on the minimalist-jacket-copy approach, 
> which had the effect of making the book's first sentence the most famous 
> since "Call me Ishmael."