IV "autobiographical"?

[Tore Rye Andersen]

Laura:
 
> There've been a number of posters who seem to agree with Tore that IV is,
> in a small sense at least, an autobiographical novel. After all TRP lived 
> in roughly this place at roughly this time and (for those who know the 
> time/place) gets the details exactly right. While Pynchon, like Doc, may 
> have been stoned/tripping sometimes/often/always, and partaking of all the
> hedonistic opportunities available, it's impossible for me to read Doc as 
> a Pynchon analog. 
 
Oh, I absolutely agree. "Autobiography" is not a word to be used lightly when
it comes to Pynchon, but please notice how careful I've been in my phrasing.
I've said that: "Together with Vineland, this is probably the closest we'll 
get to an autobiography by Pynchon," and I've called IV a "semi-autobiographical 
yarn." While I'll stand by these two assertions, I wouldn't dream of equating
Doc with Pynchon. When I call IV semi-autobiographical, it's more a matter of
'when' and 'where' than of 'who.' I don't think Pynchon took part in shakedown
schemes or setting up drugbusts, I don't think he is 5/6 of normal size and 
can walk through walls, and I don't even think he sported a "fairly
presentable foot-and-a-half-diameter white-guy Afro." But I do think he
ate his burgers at Tommy's, rode the same freeways as Doc and listened
to the same music. Heck, I even believe he sang along in his car once in
a while. But Pynchon is no Doc, that's not what I've been saying.
 
Would it be more acceptable to call IV a demi-semi-autobiography? 
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