Hitchens on Pynchon

[A.J.]

I'm not sure what Hitchens means-is it not the media that creates the storm
around his desire for privacy? But anyway, a lot of this recluse business
surrounding Pynchon seems manufactured. Sure, he doesn't grant interviews or
give lectures, but neither did, say, Cormac McCarthy until very recently. He
does seems adamant about avoiding the public sphere, but, I mean, he's not
Dan Brown or J.K. Rowling, he's highly respected in literary circles and
whatnot. It doesn't seem like it would be that hard for a (relatively)
obscure author to maintain privacy though, with (gasp) photographs of him
published. Guys like McEwan, grant interviews and make appearances, and I
don't exactly see him on the cover of Us Weekly. I've always had an internal
debate about this, how much is image making on the part of Pynchon, how much
is media creation?

I understand if Pynchon wants his work to stand on its own, but that seems
like a lame thing to hide behind. I've seen plenty of authors speak, and
interviews of Cormac McCarthy, and oftentimes, they're reticent on the
creative process and refuse to answer subjective questions of
interpretation. I feel like he could definitely grant interviews and not
inject his interpretation of his novels and have them cloud other people's
judgment. His work has spoken to a lot of people, so it's a shame he's never
been interviewed. I understand if he just wants privacy or doesn't feel like
it, but I've read it's because he wants his work to stand on its own-that
seems like a lame explanation. But who knows, every source on his life is
questionable at best.

On Wed, Jun 9, 2010 at 10:30 AM, rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:

> find this whole thing odd. I mean why the fuck did he call the guy
>
> On Wed, Jun 9, 2010 at 10:27 AM, Henry Musikar <scuffling at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > Q: You mention being introduced to J.D. Salinger?
> >
> > A: No, I never was. Oh, I understand. Introduced to his books. That's
> right.
> > I did, however, once get a call from Thomas Pynchon, though, and if
> > anything, he's been less approachable. I said, "Yeah, yeah, it's Thomas
> > Pynchon." But he established he certainly was Thomas Pynchon. He is a
> friend
> > of my friend Ian McEwan. I made a bid to try and meet up with him and he
> > said, "Oh, no, no, that's all right" and hung up.
> >
> > Q: It's an odd notoriety.
> >
> > A: Yes it is. I find it rather creepy. It seems like a long way for
> someone
> > to go in order to seek the love of others, a strange way of avoiding
> one's
> > notoriety. If you want to avoid publicity, you should probably not make a
> > huge sensation about the avoiding part. I find it rather suspect.
> >
> >
> http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/ct-live-0609-hitchens-pr-2
> > 0100609,0,3675752.story
> >
> > Henry Mu
> > Sr. IT Analyst
> > http://astore.amazon.com/tdcoccamsaxe-20/
> >
> >
> >
>
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