IVIV (0) This Lively Yarn

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Agree with everything you've said here, Tore.  The "lively yarn" and the dumb joke at the end, as well as Pynchon's practice of writing blurbs for other people as well as himself all point to this blurb being his own.

While reading the book, the Manson references (not to mention the forty-year issuing of the book from the murders, Woodstock, etc.) made me assume this was taking place in 1969.  But later, there's a reference to "the 70s" (damned if I can find it).  By the end of the book, it seems pretty clear that this is 1970.  Outside of the video-promo, there doesn't seem to be anything in the book indicating time-shifting or an unreliable narrator.  One thing that seemed anachronistic is that there are two references to flavored margaritas.  That fad definitely didn't start on the east coast until the 1980s.  Did it start earlier in LA?  Careless anachronism or sly reference to upcoming yuppie-ism?

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: Tore Rye Andersen <torerye at hotmail.com>
>Sent: Aug 18, 2009 7:40 AM
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org, john.carvill at sap.com
>Subject: RE: IVIV (0) This Lively Yarn
>
>
>John: 
>
>> (a)  Can we agree it doesn't very forcefully suggest itself as having
>> been written by Pynchon? There's nothing I can see that's sufficiently
>> characterful to stand out as an obvious Pynchon phrasing or usage.
>
>Maybe not forcefully, but I would still say that it is a very safe bet
>that Pynchon wrote this. We know that he likes to be in control of how his
>books are launched, playing a part in the design of the jacket u.s.w.,
>and I don't think he would entrust something as important as the book
>description to anyone else. And I do think there are a couple-three
>things indicating that Pynchon wrote this (see below).
> 
>> (b) There's that playing with time again. Never too sure when we really
>> are. Tail end of the Psychedelic Sities eh? What, literally, or
>> figuratively? Isn't our best guess that the narrative takes place in
>> 1970? As with ATD, there aren't too many places in the narrative of IV
>> where we can definitively pin it down, time-wise.
> 
>I think the action can be accurately pinned down to early 1970 (probably
>from around February to early spring). On page 98, we learn that "It was 
>late winter in Gordita." And later in the same chapter, on p. 107, we hear 
>of "the epic surf that hit the north shore of that island [Oahu] back in 
>December," and we hear that this surge coincided with the capture of Manson, 
>who was taken into custody in December '69. Also the Manson case has yet to 
>go into trial (which it did in June 1970).
> 
>> (d) That "cast of characters includes.." does recall the ATD blurb.
> 
>Yes, and it also recalls the M&D book description, which also has Pynchon
>written all over it:
> 
>"Along the way they encounter a plentiful cast of characters, including 
>Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Samuel Johnson, as well as a 
>Chinese feng shui master, a Swedish irredentist, a talking dog, and a robot 
>duck."
> 
>Almost the same phrase appearing three times in a row on M&D, AtD and IV -
>that can't be a coincidence.
>
>> (f) 'Lively yarn' is just about the only phrase in here that I can find
>> that suggests itself, to me, as a possible Pynchonism.
> 
>Once again, you're absolutely right. Pynchon has previously mentioned his 
>propensity to spin yarns, so I'd definitely call it a Pynchonism, even
>though we may groan at the phrase.
>
>> (h) Would Pynchon really make that 'if you were there, then you . . .
>> or, wait, is it . . .' joke at the end? It's kinda stupid and obvious,
>> so that does suggest a marketing department at work; on the oteh rhand,
>> many of Pynchon's best jokes *are* stupid, so....
> 
>It recalls the "What year is this again?" from the end of the video: 
>another stupid joke which does seem right up his alley.
> 
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