Is the Paul Anderson Pynchon's Inherent Vice the Next Big Lebowski

[kelber at mindspring.com]

I'm serious - it really would be great to have that book of essays.  I usually have low expectations of movies made from books (actually, I thought My Foolish Heart - from the Wiggily in Connecticut story - was pretty good, but then I like both Hayward and Andrews), but there's an additional problem with the IV movie - it has to live up to The Big Lebowski (a good, entertaining movie, but not the greatest movie ever, or anything).  Everyone's going to compare it to that movie, for better or worse, and fewer will compare it to the book (fewer still to the rest of Pynchon's work).  It's unlikely, though, that if the movie bombs, people will be LESS likely to tackle GR.  If it turns out well, more people might be willing to give Pynchon's books a try.

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
>Sent: Mar 8, 2011 6:10 PM
>To: P-list <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>Subject: Re: Is the Paul Anderson Pynchon's Inherent Vice the Next Big Lebowski
>
>Laura wrote:
>> Ditto.  I really want a book of personal essays by Pynchon.  Oh, and a billion dollars and world peace would be nice too.
>>
>
>ok, I guess there were 2 misgivings and a not unreasonable hope behind that:
>
>a) you know how Salinger reacted when they made a movie out of Uncle
>Wiggily in Connecticut
>even though it wasn't a bad movie by any reasonable standards, it was
>(of course, and predictably) not the same artistic vision
>
>
>b) more fundamentally, just wanted to grumble a little in favor of books
>over films
>
>
>...and the hope, which I really don't think all that unreasonable, is
>that there really might be another book in the offing.
>
>
>However, we've certainly not exhausted the possibilities of the extant
>oeuvre, and Inherent Vice the movie might be a lot of fun.