Slate-d

[Tim Strzechowski]

>
> In light of this, to persist in maintaining (or insinuating, as the Slate 
> article does) that it's something written by Pynchon necessarily implies 
> that Pynchon went out of his way to produce a waffling list of names and 
> places interspersed with some self-indulgent twaddle with no sense of 
> protagonist, theme, or plot, passed it off as a blurb for his new novel, 
> then went around his publisher, agent, and any sensible advice he might 
> have been given in order to upload this trivialising spoiler onto evil 
> corporate behemoth Amazon.com's site five months early, somehow hacking 
> into their publisher's area to do this, and thereby effectively and 
> deliberately destroyed the usual aura of mystery and expectation 
> surrounding the release of a new (major) work by him. In sum, it casts him 
> as a loon.
>
> best
>

"We earlier wondered aloud what the deal was with the fleeting appearance on 
Amazon.com of a synopsis of Untitled Thomas Pynchon. Was it a) a brilliant 
and deranged gag; b) a brilliant Barnum-caliber stunt; c) a screw-up. If you 
were playing at home and chose c), then we congratulate you on your 
perspicacity and enviable lack of cynicism. Pynchon wrote the description of 
the book, which is titled Against the Day, himself. Its initial posting was 
premature. (Also, your exceedingly polite reporter regrets any earlier 
implication that Penguin Press' publicity chief disavowed knowledge of the 
synopsis itself, as opposed to its presence on the Web site.)"

http://www.slate.com/id/2146272/?nav=tap3