Pynchon on his characters

[Dave Monroe]

On Sat, May 16, 2009 at 3:20 PM, Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at gmail.com> wrote:

> I don't recall his ever mentioning it on the p-list or in the few private
> correspondences I ever had with him.

If anyone doubts my ability to keep a secret ...

> I can well imagine the letter didn't sit well with Hollander (beyond the
> rejection of the publishing idea).

Slow Learner came out not long thereafter nonetheless ...

> Although the letter was formally polite, still there was a hint of annoyance
> and sarcasm in it.

It Says Something that he went to the trouble to answer @ all ...

> Pynchon pretty obviously doesn't like people trying to figure him out.

No duh ...

> I suspect he both likes it and doesn't like it--Oscar Wilde said the only
> thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.

I think that's the gist of it ...

> It would be interesting to see what Hollander said in his letter to
> Pynchon--anyone know?

So far as I know, it's pretty much all been published in his various
papers over the years, Pynchon seems in particular to be responding to
comments on the short stories here, but ...