Pynchon on his characters

[Paul Mackin]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dave Monroe" <against.the.dave at gmail.com>
To: "Paul Mackin" <mackin.paul at gmail.com>
Cc: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Saturday, May 16, 2009 8:01 PM
Subject: Re: Pynchon on his characters


> 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 ...
>

There must be a million secrets I don't remember him ever telling me.

:>)


>> 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 ...