The 'Waste' Law | Pynchon's genealogical influences

[David Morris]

On Nov 21, 2007 11:04 AM, Monte Davis <monte.davis at verizon.net> wrote:
>
> One of Pynchon's most characteristic riffs from V. onward has been to set up a lot of connections and to show us characters wondering which are meaningful -- even determinative -- and which are Kute Korrespondences. I, for one, don't think he's "camera-shy and interview-phobic... because he knew he was digging into the family dirty laundry."

I think both his camera-shy reclusiveness and his coded reference to
his family's fall from monetary superstardom have to do with his
painfully bad teeth, and his parent's inability to pay for childhood
braces:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/graphics/2006/12/07/bopynchon300.jpg