Pynchon's back catalogue

[Tore Rye Andersen]

Laura:
 
> ANyway, all this gets me to thinking that yet another division in 
> Pynchon's writing (intra-book,, not inter-book) is writing from research 
> vs. writing from personal experience. 
 
Great post, Laura, vomiting Piglet and all. Anyway, I think you're absolutely
right: When Pynchon isn't busy plundering Baedekers, he's busy plundering
his own experience. Your thoughts reminded me of this quote from the article
"Pynchon's Letters Nudge His Mask" from the NYT:
 
"In 1978, in what might have been a response to a suggestion that he write his 
autobiography, he says: 'As for spilling my life story, I try to do that all 
the time. Nobody ever wants to listen, for some strange reason.'"
 
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/04/books/pynchon-s-letters-nudge-his-mask.html
 
Of course, this may just be a reference to the usual notion of people in pubs
spilling their incoherent life stories to complete strangers, but to me it reads
like a sly acknowledgment by the novelist of information that he does this kind
of thing all the time in his fiction - as, I suppose, do most other novelists. 
 
 
 
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