Appreciation

[Mark Kohut]

Lawrence,
   
  It seems you met the mysterious V. !!!
   
  MK

Lawrence Bryan <lebryan at speakeasy.org> wrote:
  
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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