The 'Waste' Law | Pynchon's genealogical influences

[Monte Davis]

> Pynchon is so reputed for this phenomenon of 
> reclucivity

By whom? I have, like Mark Kohut, a few second- and third-hand connections,
whose reports are unanimous that there's nothing hermit-like about him. 

*Everything* else comes directly or indirectly from the giant echo chamber
of people whose business, one way or another, is bookchat -- reporting on
authors, publicizing authors, interviewing authors, gossiping about authors
-- and therefore assume that not playing with them is something that *needs*
explanation. I don't.

> and he goes to such lengths to maintain it 

It wouldn't take many incidents such as Jules Siegel's Playboy article, or
the West End Avenue paparazzo, to turn that into self-fulfilling prophecy
for me... and,  I would hope, to make my friends as protective as his are.


(I also suspect that the hyper-intense engagement a lot of us have with his
work must have led, by the time CoL49 came out if not before, to an
exceptionally high rate of 

"OMG, you're Thomas PYNCHON?!? Stand there for an hour while I rave about
how you TOTALLY ROCK MY WORLD!"

... which could get old pretty quick.)