Reclusion as marketing ploy - tired trope

[malignd at aol.com]

There is zero clamor for writers in the media devoted to celebrity.  The occasional writer might rise to the surface, like Franzen, but the idea of writer as media celeb is absurd.  Pynchon only draws attention to himself by his insistence on anonymity.  That might not be his intention, but that's the result.



-----Original Message-----
From: Matthew Cissell <macissell at yahoo.es>
To: pynchon-l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Wed, Oct 5, 2011 1:21 pm
Subject: Reclusion as marketing ploy - tired trope


I see that the tired trope has been trotted out again. "It's all about the 
money/marketing." Lazy thinking. And of course before (when he was the Great 
writer of GR) his privacy was genuine, but now it is the work of his succubus. I 
see.
 
    The writer as recluse is BS, at least in the case of TP. How about writer in 
seclusion? A monkish sort of writer keeping to himself and wanting to keep 
himself to himself (the man doesn't want to be "sliced up like bologna", just 
write and whanot). Don't just focus on The Simpson's appearance or his letter 
for McEwan. What about the Watts piece? Isn't it more interesting to see his 
"public interaction" as an evolving dynamic and one that is not primarily 
motivated by marketing aspirations and a machiavellian spouse?
 
    As for Ladbrokes bets and all the rest, I think it bears some study. several 
times the odds they gave were off (in 2007 Doris Lessing was hardly given odds & 
in 2010 Llosa was at 45/1)) and other times they were close (2009 gave Müller 
3/1 & 2006 gave Pamuk 5/1). At least once there was a potential leak: 2008 saw 
a sudden surge in betting on Le Clezio pushing his odds from 15/1 to 2/1, which 
aroused suspicion. Makes one wonder about the sudden change in numbers on Bobby 
D. However, that all has to do with the betting game. maybe there should be some 
side bets on whether TP would accept the prize or not.
    For me it is interesting to see the world of high status and legitimate 
culture (the nobel prize decision) intersecting with the vulgar world of 
betting. The result is a bit ironic in that there is certainly more money moving 
around big games (World Cup, etc.) than there is around the Nobel decision. The 
world is inverted.
    
ciao
mcc

 
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