Guardian on Pynchon Promoting Inherent Vice

[Carvill John]

For two of the world's shyest authors, it's been a strange week. But then they both have new books to promote. With his crime novel Inherent Vice just out, Thomas Pynchon has stuck to his usual policy of eschewing interviews, readings and photos; but he was acknowledged by a publicist as the voice heard - sounding rather like Bob Dylan on his radio show - in a video trailer for the book on YouTube. Not content with this virgin venture into salesmanship, the 72-year-old has also provided a playlist for the novel, set in California in 1970, on amazon.com. This naturally includes tracks by the Beach Boys, the Beatles, the Doors, Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones, but also Ethel Merman, Frank Sinatra, lesser-known genuine or phoney artists such as Spotted Dick, Meatball Flag and the Spaniels, and "'Skyful of Hearts' performed by Larry 'Doc' Sportello" - as Doc is the novel's hero, a dope-smoking detective, scholars and obsessives may spend years trying to trace whether this really exists.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/aug/15/the-week-in-books



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