IVIV (0) This Lively Yarn

[Mark Kohut]

When we get to it in the Group read, Inherent Vicem Insiders' View, there may be at least one P-themed reason why, although almost everything seems to be happening in 1969---I thought so too---something P wanted to include made him have to move it to 1970......I don't want to SPOIL (even the discussion if I'm wrong).....

I LOVE the group read...

--- On Tue, 8/18/09, kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:

> From: kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com>
> Subject: RE: IVIV (0) This Lively Yarn
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Date: Tuesday, August 18, 2009, 11:25 AM
> 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.
> > 
> >_________________________________________________________________
> >Show them the way! Add maps and directions to your
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> 
>