IVIV (0) Vicetube

[Mark Kohut]

It is artful Pynchon, yes, yes, yes, superbly said.

--- On Mon, 8/17/09, Tore Rye Andersen <torerye at hotmail.com> wrote:

> From: Tore Rye Andersen <torerye at hotmail.com>
> Subject: RE: IVIV (0) Vicetube
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Date: Monday, August 17, 2009, 3:54 AM
> 
> I was doubly surprised by this book trailer:
>  
> 1) Surprised that Pynchon was doing it at all. He hasn't
> exactly
> been participating avidly in the marketing (or lack
> thereof) of his
> previous books, so for me it was a big surprise that he
> played along
> this time. Yet another book trailer may not even be one
> small step for
> the publishing world, but I suspect that it is one giant
> leap for this
> particular author. 
>  
> 2) Surprised how little I resented the fact that he did the
> video and
> how much I actually liked it. I had always thought that
> something like
> this would seem like Pynchon losing the virginity he has
> been preserving
> through half a century; like Pynchon selling out, in other
> words. Others
> may differ, but I've always admired how Pynchon has let his
> works speak
> for themselves and has let his publishers take care of all
> the bookselling.
> But somehow this video doesn't feel like selling out, at
> least not to me.
> Dunno why, really. Maybe because it's so fucking cool.
> Maybe because of
> the joke about the steep price at the very end - a perfect
> note to end
> the video with. Or maybe because it still seems very
> Pynchonian and 
> carries a lot of his trademarks:
>  
> Note for example the appearance in the video of the phrase
> "and so forth" 
> (at 1:38). This particular phrase also appears about 20
> times in IV. 
> It's a seemingly innocuous phrase, which can almost seem
> like a verbal tic 
> which some editor should have taken care of, but the
> striking thing is how 
> well Pynchon manages his "verbal tics." Thus, "and so
> forth" is only a verbal 
> tic in IV, just as "who should he happen to run into
> but..." and similar 
> phrases are just verbal tics in AtD. They don't bleed into
> the other books 
> and seem to be deliberate, highly controlled effects,
> giving each book a
> distinct flavour.
>  
> I was overjoyed when I heard Pynchon employing that small,
> eager stutter he 
> also gives to many of his characters - Slothrop, in
> particular, but also 
> characters in AtD and IV (A-and, o-or, etc.). It surfaces a
> couple of times 
> toward the end of the video: "M-maybe you'll just wanna
> read the book: 
> I-Inherent Vice."
>  
> A-and of course the video also messes around with time in a
> typically
> Pynchonian fashion. Like the beginning of the narration:
>  
> "If you're driving south from LA International it should
> take no more than a 
> hit or two off of your favorite brand of cigarette before
> you're right here, 
> in Gordita Beach, California. Well, no, actually, this used
> to be the beach. 
> Later on, all this is gonna go highrise, high-rent, high
> intensity. But right 
> now, back in 1970, what it is is just HIGH."
>  
> When exactly is this narrated? The phrase "right now, back
> in 1970" is something
> of an oxymoron, and the narrator seems to be temporally
> bilocated. On the one 
> hand he's speaking to us from 2009, where he knows that
> Gordita 
> Beach will go highrise etc., and where 1970 was back in
> time. On the other
> hand, he's speaking to us "right now," in 1970, when the
> novel takes place.
> This ambiguity is underscored by the footage, in which
> Gordita Beach is still a 
> beach, but which on the other hand does seem to show us
> some recent images, or 
> at least images from later than 1970. Those highrises make
> an appearance around 
> 1:30, and the cop cruiser on the beach around 1.33 does
> seem to be a more recent 
> make of car. Is this artful ambiguity, as we've come to
> expect from Pynchon, or 
> just sloppy editing? Which do you want it to be?
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