TRP letter re Ian McEwan

[pynchonoid]

I typed this out for a friend who can't see, so I may
as well put it in the archives, too:

[Note:  the "From Thomas Pynchon" at the top of the
typewritten letter appears to be hand-written in block
capitals and is partially underlined:


>From Thomas Pynchon

	Given the British genius for coded utterance, this
could all be about something else entirely, impossible
on this side of the ocean to appreciate in any nuanced
way-- but assuming that it really is about who owns
the right to describe using gentian violet for
ringworm, for heaven's sake, allow me a gentle
suggestion. Oddly enough, most of us who write
historical fiction do feel some obligation to
accuracy. It is that Ruskin business about "a capacity
responsive to the claims of fact, but unoppressed by
them." Unless we were actually there, we must turn to
people who were, or to letters, contemporary
reporting, the Internet until, with luck, we can begin
to make a few things of our own up. To discover in the
course of research some engaging detail we know can be
put into a story where it will do some good can hardly
be classed as a felonious acvt-- it is simply what we
do. The worst you can call itis a form of primate
behavior. Writers are naturally drawn,
chimpanzee-like, to the color and the music of this
English idiom we are blessed to have inherited. When
given the choice we will usually try to use the more
vivid and tuneful among its words. I cannot of course
speak for Mr. McEwan's method of proceeding, but
should be very surprised indeed if something of the
sort, even for brief moments, had not occurred during
his research for Atonement- Gentian violet! Come on.
Who among us could have resisted that one?
	Memoirs of the Blitz have borne indispensable
witness, and helped later generations know something
of the tragedcy and heroism of those days. For Mr.
McEwan to have put details from one of them to further
creative use, acknowledging this openly and often, and
then explaining it clearly and honorably, surely
merits not our scolding, but our gratitude.



 
____________________________________________________________________________________
Have a burning question?  
Go to www.Answers.yahoo.com and get answers from real people who know.