AtDtDA(28): The Terrible Rumors

[Dave Monroe]

On 3/23/08, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com> wrote:

> "Morgan's"
>
> John Pierpont Morgan (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American
> financier, banker, philanthropist, and art collector who dominated
> corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In
> 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and
> Thompson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric....
>
> [...]
>
> In 1900, Morgan financed inventor Nikola Tesla and his Wardenclyffe
> Tower with $150,000 for experiments in radio. However, in 1903, when
> the tower structure was near completion, it was still not yet
> functional due to last-minute design changes that introduced an
> unintentional defect. When Morgan wanted to know "Where can I put the
> meter?", Tesla had no answer. Tesla's vision of free power did not
> agree with Morgan's worldview; nor would it pay for the maintenance of
> the transmission system. Construction costs eventually exceeded the
> money provided by Morgan, and additional financiers were reluctant to
> come forth. By July 1904, Morgan (and the other investors) finally
> decided they would not provide any additional financing. Morgan also
> encouraged other investors to avoid the project.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._P._Morgan#Later_years
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._P._Morgan
>
> And see as well ...
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla#Later_years

March 4, 1998
Pynchon's Letters Nudge His Mask
By MEL GUSSOW


In his private correspondence, Thomas Pynchon, a famously reclusive
author, offers extraordinary insights into his creative process as
well as his insecurities, angers, passions and his day-to-day life. At
various times, he questions his talent as a writer and called one of
his novels a potboiler. But on at least one occasion, he is struck by
a surge of self-confidence, envisioning himself as the subject of a
battle among publishers for rights to his fiction.

While rigorously guarding his privacy, he was also concerned, as most
writers are, with contracts, royalties, book sales and reviews. When
he was not writing, he was often reading and enjoying books by other
contemporary authors or going to the movies, and he dreamed of being a
film critic.

All this, and more, is revealed in more than 120 letters that Mr.
Pynchon sent to his agent, Candida Donadio, from 1963 to 1982. In
1984, Carter Burden, the businessman, politician and arts patron,
purchased the group of letters from Ms. Donadio (through a dealer,
Ralph Sipper, of Joseph the Provider Books in Santa Barbara, Calif.)
for $45,000, making it the most expensive item in Mr. Burden's
valuable American literature collection.

Last month, two years after Mr. Burden's death, his family presented
his collection (worth $8 million to $10 million) to the Pierpont
Morgan Library....

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9804E0DE1231F937A35750C0A96E958260

The Morgan Curtails Access to a Trove Of Pynchon Letters
MEL GUSSOW
Published: March 21, 1998


A trove of Thomas Pynchon letters -- the most highly prized item in
the Carter Burden collection of American literature given last month
to the Pierpont Morgan Library by the Burden family -- will not be
open to scholars during Mr. Pynchon's lifetime, it was announced
yesterday.

In describing the change in the bequest, Susan Burden, Mr. Burden's
widow, indicated that it was a response to Mr. Pynchon's objections
about having his private correspondence available to the public.

Speaking for the Burden family, Mrs. Burden said, ''We felt it was the
graceful thing to do.'' ....

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D04E6DB1738F932A15750C0A96E958260