Appreciation

Lawrence Bryan lebryan at speakeasy.org
Tue Jul 17 13:37:43 CDT 2007


Hmmm... personal anecdotes... Okay. Here's one, though I doubt it  
will draw anyone out.

I was in Kuta Beach looking in a used bookstore for something to read  
before heading to Ngurah Rai Airport for my flight back to Dubai and  
saw an old ratty copy of V. I knew the name Pynchon and had even  
bought GR at a friend's recommendation - found it unreadable at that  
time - so decided trying another Pynchon novel would either keep me  
entertained on the flight back or put me to sleep, a win-win  
proposition.

I was settling into my seat, performing the usual airline rituals,  
when I noticed two women in the seats in front of me engaged in  
conversation in German. My German is not good enough to adequately  
eavesdrop, so I found my copy of V and started reading it, hoping it  
wouldn't fall apart before I finished it. I was reading "...fused  
into a single abstracted Street, which come the full moon he would  
have nightmares about.", wondering why "Street" was capitalized and  
frowning a bit at the way the words didn't seem to fall naturally  
into my brain, when the German voice became louder and more insistent.

"You're a Pynchon fan?"

I glance up to see one of the women apparently kneeling on her seat  
and peering over at me.

"Not really." Then, "I have Gravity's Rainbow at home but haven't  
read it."

"We are both Pynchon fans. I write for a literary magazine in Germany"

She disappeared behind her seat indicating she would soon return, so  
I waited until her head popped up again.

"Here.", thrusting a magazine towards me.

I glanced at it, a page of German with "Pynchon" in the title and a  
picture of a man in a black leather jacket, his head turned away from  
the camera. I looked up at her and smiled, handing her magazine back.  
"Do you know who that is?"

"Pynchon?"

"No!", she laughed. "It's me." I glanced again at the picture and  
then saw the caption, "PYNCHON?"

Her laugh was easy and her voice pleasant. She looked about my age  
and had an interesting look. I wondered if she was going on to  
Germany or staying in Dubai. We chatted off and on the whole flight.  
She told me about TRP's skittishness about pictures and interviews  
and how I should try GR again. She was going home to Germany, but if  
I was ever in ________, I should look her up. Since I never did get  
to ______ and long ago forgot her name, nothing ever became of the  
brief meeting other than I did try GR again (with pleasure, now) and  
went on to Vineland, Slow Learner, COL49, M&D (which I really should  
try to read again, I suppose) and, of course, ATD.

Lawrence

*********************************

On Jul 17, 2007, at 8:18 AM, Keith wrote:

Maybe if we share some personal anecdotes we can draw him out.

On Jul 17, 2007, at 7:13 AM, robinlandseadel at comcast.net wrote:

I'd bet he'd like a nice tuna casserole.






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