Thomas Pynchon's new novel: 'Inherent Vice'

[Dave Monroe]

On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 1:39 PM, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com> wrote:

> http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2008/11/thomas-pynchons.html

Publisher Penguin's catalog reveals details about the upcoming book by
Thomas Pynchon. As previously reported, it will be a detective novel
hitting shelves next summer; the news is the title, "Inherent Vice."
And details about the plot:

It's been awhile since Doc Sportello has seen his ex-girlfriend.
Suddenly out of nowhere she shows up with a story about a plot to
kidnap a billionaire land developer whom she just happens to be in
love with. Easy for her to say. It's the tail end of the psychedelic
sixties in L.A., and Doc knows that "love" is another of those words
going around at the moment, like "trip" or "groovy," except that this
one usually leads to trouble. Despite which he soon finds himself
drawn into a bizarre tangle of motives and passions whose cast of
characters includes surfers, hustlers, dopers and rockers, a murderous
loan shark, a tenor sax player working undercover, an ex-con with a
swastika tattoo and a fondness for Ethel Merman, and a mysterious
entity known as the Golden Fang, which may only be a tax dodge set up
by some dentists.

In this lively yarn, Thomas Pynchon, working in an unaccustomed genre,
provides a classic illustration of the principle that if you can
remember the sixties, you weren't there . . . or . . . if you were
there, then you . . . or, wait, is it . . .

You might say I'm a little too much of a fan of "The Crying of Lot 49"
-- I got only puzzled stares when I showed up at a Halloween party
dressed as Oedipa Mass. But when I hear Pynchon, psychedelic sixties
and billionaire land developer, I can't help but think Pierce
Inverarity. Could this world overlap with the world of "The Crying of
Lot 49"? Or will it be a bizarre sixties Southern California of its
own?

Thanks to tireless litblogger Scott Esposito for finding the Pynchon
entry in the the PDF catalog.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2008/11/thomas-pynchons.html

New Pynchon Details--Inherent Vice
Penguin has posted its Summer '09 catalog online (PDF format), and it
includes some details as to Pynchon's new novel.

The title will be Inherent Vice, and it deals with a private eye in
'60s Los Angeles. From the catalog:

It's been awhile since Doc Sportello has seen his ex-girlfriend.
Suddenly out of nowhere she shows up with a story about a plot to
kidnap a billionaire land developer whom she just happens to be in
love with. Easy for her to say. It's the tail end of the psychedelic
sixties in L.A., and Doc knows that "love" is another of those words
going around at the moment, like "trip" or "groovy," except that this
one usually leads to trouble. Despite which he soon finds himself
drawn into a bizarre tangle of motives and passions whose cast of
characters includes surfers, hustlers, dopers and rockers, a murderous
loan shark, a tenor sax player working undercover, an ex-con with a
swastika tattoo and a fondness for Ethel Merman, and a mysterious
entity known as the Golden Fang, which may only be a tax dodge set up
by some dentists.

In this lively yarn, Thomas Pynchon, working in an unaccustomed genre,
provides a classic illustration of the principle that if you can
remember the sixties, you weren't there . . . or . . . if you were
there, then you . . . or, wait, is it . . .

Sounds like a little Vineland and a little Crying of Lot 49.

http://www.conversationalreading.com/2008/11/new-pynchon-det.html


http://www.conversationalreading.com/2008/11/new-pynchon-det.html