The ongoing enigma of Trystero

[kelber at mindspring.com]

For those of us who read COL49 pre-Internet, Tristero's W.A.S.T.E has been superseded by the Internet.  Look how the Twitter and other communication networks are being used in the Iranian protests.  Implicit in the Internet are both control from above and the real seeds of anarchy, mirroring the duality of Trystero/Tristero that Joseph talks about in his COL49 post. I can imagine, though, that for those raised in the Internet Age, W.A.S.T.E. is kind of a cool throwback to getting upclose and personal, a freedom from the tyranny of computer use.  "If you know what this means you know where to find out more."  How cool, how trendy, to be one of the Elected preterite who communicates clandestinely, without the use of electronics.

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: Robin Landseadel <robinlandseadel at comcast.net>
>Sent: Jun 18, 2009 4:46 PM
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: The ongoing enigma of Trystero
>
> From LA Times' "Jacket Copy" by Carolyn Kellogg:
>
>Picking up a thread from Goolrick's article and interview, I wondered  
>if I could use an online database of public records to see whether  
>Pynchon's father was still around (turns out he died in 1995). The  
>search brought me to a page to links for his immediate family, and  
>when I tried to click through on Tom Jr.'s name -- that's what,  
>Goolrick says, Pynchon's mother called him -- the page didn't load.
>
>It was as if the universe simply couldn't deliver hard information  
>about the author Thomas Pynchon. Or perhaps a clever cabal of  
>programmers had done some scripting to make sure his complete  
>anonymity was preserved. Either way, the not-loading Pynchon page is  
>so Pynchonian that I won't bother to try the search again, lest the  
>results be more routine the next time around.
>
>
>
>http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2009/06/revisiting-a-decadesold-search-for-thomas-pynchon.html