Jules Siegel"s Playboy article

[Robin Landseadel]

Please excuse the double posting.

Reading Siegel's article and then reading a bit of Vineland indicates  
just how autobiographical Pynchon's writing really is.  Somewhere else  
in the essay, Pynchon notes how life experience is central to quality  
of writing, how real-time-boots-on-the-ground  experience leaves a  
bigger imprint on the soul than something out of a book. One hell of  
a  paradox for a writer as bookish as TRP, but that what the Gods  
threw at him, so whatchagonnado? All the little bits and pieces of  
potentially libelous [but apparently publishable] detail that this  
particular exploration of Pynchon's past brings up makes me all the  
more interested in Inherent Vice. It sounds like it's some kind of  
autobiography. "What can i say, he was some kind of a man. . ."

Like the Dude sez:

	. . ."The Small Rain" was my first published story. A friend who'd
	been away in the army the same two years I'd been in the navy
	supplied the details. The hurricane really happened, and my
	friend's Signal Corps detachment had the mission described in
	the story. Most of what I dislike about my writing is present here
	in embryo; as well as in more advanced forms. I failed to
	recognize, just for openers, that the main character's problem
	was real and interesting enough to generate a story on its own. . .
	Slow Learner, page 4

After Reading the Slow Learner passage one might note how character is  
such a central component in Mason & Dixon, the big book* that TRP was  
working on at the time [1984] the short story collection was  
published. I would say that anyone who says that Pynchon is incapable  
of creating "Round" characters either hasn't read Mason & Dixon, or  
just doesn't "get it."

In the next passage of the SL intro, OBA touches on the quality of his  
ear.

	Equally embarrassing is the case of Bad Ear to be found
	marring much of the dialogue, especially toward the end.
	SL, 4

It's paradoxical, the ear for the voices of characters in Vineland is  
just sublime as long as we understand that it's all TV dialog and it's  
supposed to sound like TV dialog. Those fears about us humans being  
subsumed by machines expressed in V. persists in the the degree the  
Tubal generation becomes simulacra in Vineland, all there so-called  
"rebels" parroting—to one degree or another—whatever the Tube tells  
sold them in elaborate forms of propaganda most of us now usually pass  
over as background noise.‡ But it's not background noise—we have to  
actively engage with the content of the Tube to resist it, and  
everything about the Tubal experience is designed to keep us fat and  
happy in our little cages,

	... the sort of mild herd creatures who belonged, who'd feel, let's
	face it, much more comfortable, behind fences. Children
	longing for discipline.

On Mar 18, 2009, at 9:27 AM, Robin Landseadel wrote:

> I suspect the following line might be a big part of Jules [or  
> "Tom's"] problem. . .

*Maybe AtD as well—there's lots of stuff that seems really old in AtD.  
All things considered, that makes a lot of sense as old storylines —La  
Jarretière, anyone?—are frequently dredged back up from the vast  
cloaca of time in that mighty doorstopper.

‡ Remember how Vond got de-funded as too many volunteers for the hard  
right were emerging without government assistance? After a certain  
amount of time, the work of "Dragnet", CHiPs & Law'nOrder sets in, it  
becomes background noise.