Pynchon and baseball

[kelber at mindspring.com]

It's not the same as omitting to mention Einstein in ATD.  Presuambly baseball just bores the shit out of him.  My husband says various men at work will come up to him and say "how do you like those Mets/Yankees/etc.?" and he'll tell them he's not into baseball at which point most of them will shame-facedly admit that they aren't either.

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: Ya Sam <takoitov at hotmail.com>
>Sent: Apr 18, 2007 8:35 PM
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: Pynchon and baseball
>
>I took to watching baseball matches on North American Sports channel (well, 
>actually some snippets, 'cause 3 hours of baseball are too much for me) and 
>while gradually developing a sort of understanding of this game I realised 
>that I would always remain pretty indifferent to it. And I am completely 
>aware of the fact that most of the Americans will remain indifferent to 
>soccer. Now, although Pynchon undoubtedly belongs to world literature, he is 
>still very American writer. He does mention the game on several occasions 
>but these meagre references only serve to highlight the virtual absence of 
>baseball in his ouevre. Why do you think it is so?
>
>GR
>
>'In fact, no two people have been so ill-equipped to approach a holy Center 
>since the days of Tchitcherine and Dzaqyp Qulan, hauling ass over the 
>steppe, into the North, to find their Kirghiz Light. That's about ten years' 
>gap. Giving this pastime about the same vulnerability to record-breakers as 
>baseball, a sport also well-spidered with white suggestions of the 
>sinister.'
>
>
>Vineland
>
>'They sat together on the floor in front of the Tube, with a chair-high bag 
>of Chee-tos and a sixpack of grapefruit soda from the health-food store, 
>watching baseball highlights, commercials, and weather — no rain again — 
>till it was time for the kissoff story.'
>
>'Out in the bar a baseball game was on, Central League playoffs, and a few 
>guests had lingered till the traditional 8:56, when the transmission from 
>the ballpark was abruptly cut off, in the middle of a double play, in fact.'
>
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