Updike on Pynchon

[Otto]

Scene: It's hard to imagine how you would have had the time to produce
the volume of work you've produced if you had spent that much time out
promoting yourself.

Updike: Well that's certainly what I feel. [In the course of] my day,
a lot of energy is devoted to sort of 'being me'. This interview, for
example, a pleasant example, but nevertheless in the 50s when I began
and hung out my shingle, you weren't really expected to do much in
this line, as I remember. Maybe because my persona didn't have any
drawing power! More and more an author is expected [to play the game].
Those who don't play the game like Thomas Pynchon—and, famously,
Salinger—are viewed almost as freaks of a kind, and their avoidance of
the publicity business is itself publicity-worthy. They're famous for
avoiding the spotlight. It all sets up a kind of clamor, in which it's
a little harder to settle to the patient task of writing a novel,
getting the silence that you need.
http://www.nashvillescene.com/Stories/Arts/Books/2006/11/02/The_Last_of_His_Kind_/index.shtml