seems latest Mad Men featured TCofL49.....

[Paul Mackin]

On 5/7/2012 8:45 PM, Tom Beshear wrote:
> We know Pete had ambitions to write -- which never came to much -- for
> lots of reasons it makes sense he would read CofL49.

It'd have been fun to imagine Lot 49 as a trend setting must read for 
Mad Avenue, but Tom's explanation is more plausible. Pete doesn't 
function at the creative end of things at the agency. That's Don's 
responsibility and his genius ideas just seem to be innate in his own 
troubled soul.

Also, I didn't know, as Rich pointed out, that the time was '67. Thought 
it was later in the decade when the book had gained more of a mass 
audience.  But that wouldn't have stopped literary aspirant Pete from 
knowing about it.

Of course, in the final analysis, does it really make sense that the 
book's presence really had anything to do with story development. More 
likely the director likes Pynchon, or maybe even the prop man, who 
lovingly placed the volume into Pete's hand as filming was about to 
start--possibly relating to the Pyncher's birthday or Pynchon reading 
day as Paul N. put forward.

P

>
>     ----- Original Message -----
>     *From:* Mark Kohut <mailto:markekohut at yahoo.com>
>     *To:* Mark Kohut <mailto:markekohut at yahoo.com> ; rich
>     <mailto:richard.romeo at gmail.com>
>     *Cc:* pynchon -l <mailto:pynchon-l at waste.org>
>     *Sent:* Monday, May 07, 2012 8:29 PM
>     *Subject:* Re: seems latest Mad Men featured TCofL49.....
>
>     And I thouoght I once learned that there was no second hardcover
>     printing at the time. so, total sales were
>     some net of first and only printing.
>
>     *From:* Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com <mailto:markekohut at yahoo.com>>
>     *To:* rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com <mailto:richard.romeo at gmail.com>>
>     *Cc:* pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org <mailto:pynchon-l at waste.org>>
>     *Sent:* Monday, May 7, 2012 5:47 PM
>     *Subject:* Re: seems latest Mad Men featured TCofL49.....
>
>     I wonder about this too. The novel was published in March 1966,
>     meaning in stores by February. Two excerpts had been published
>     earlier, we know, including one in Esquire magazine. It cost $3.95!
>     in hardcover.
>     It seems to have been anticipated by many--the cool, the avant
>     literary---because of the success--but poor sales says someone in a
>     Google Books book I found--- of V. But in hardcover CofL49 did not
>     seem to bestsell at least. I cannot find out any real or possible
>     sales figures of the hardcover (yet).
>     It seems the sales took off, not surprisingly, after the Bantam
>     paperback was published. That psychedelic cover. And after all the
>     review attention that was now being paid TRP.
>
>     *From:* rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com>
>     *To:* Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at verizon.net>
>     *Cc:* pynchon-l at waste.org
>     *Sent:* Monday, May 7, 2012 4:58 PM
>     *Subject:* Re: seems latest Mad Men featured TCofL49.....
>
>     the time is summer-fall 1966 in the episode last night. the question
>     is how aware would these or anyone else for that matter be of a
>     somewhat underground novel like Lot 49. i would think admen would at
>     this early stage be confused by a novel like 49. still too early
>     maybe?
>
>     On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 4:53 PM, Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at verizon.net
>     <mailto:mackin.paul at verizon.net>> wrote:
>      > For Pete, the book was probably by way of work-related research.
>     By the
>      > late 60s the youth movement and youth counterculture were super
>     hot topics
>      > in the media and advertising (at least that's the way I remember
>     it). While
>      > Lot 49 wasn't explicitly all that much about youth culture per se, it
>      > nevertheless was evocative and pointed more or less in that
>     direction. I
>      > remember thinking of it that way. The book contained stuff ad men
>     needed to
>      > keep abreast of.
>      >
>      > P
>      >
>      > I'm assuming Pete was still in the ad business--haven't seen the
>     show in a
>      > couple years.
>      >
>      >
>      > On 5/7/2012 2:42 PM, Dave Monroe wrote:
>      >
>      >
>      >> On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 12:34 PM, Dave
>     Monroe<against.the.dave at gmail.com <mailto:against.the.dave at gmail.com>>
>      >> wrote:
>      >>>
>      >>> On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 11:35 AM, Mark
>     Kohut<markekohut at yahoo.com <mailto:markekohut at yahoo.com>> wrote:
>      >>>
>      >>>> 'Mad Men,' A Conversation (Season 5, Episode 8)
>      >>>> Wall Street Journal (blog)
>      >>>> From a brief, almost subliminal, glimpse of the cover, the
>     book appears
>      >>>> to be “The Crying of Lot 49,” Thomas Pynchon's complex 1966
>     postmodern
>      >>>> novel. That flash sets the tone for this week's episode. I've
>     never been a
>      >>>> fan of Pynchon, but – my memory ...
>      >>>> See all stories on this topic »
>      >>>> 'Mad Men': An affair, and a resignation, to remember
>      >>>> Washington Post (blog)
>      >>>> and reading Thomas Pynchon's “The Crying of Lot 49” (classic
>      >>>> introspective, borderline suicidal person move, and a relevant
>     detail since
>      >>>> it's about a woman dealing with her deceased former lover's
>     estate). On top
>      >>>> of everything else, the installment was ...
>      >>>> See all stories on this topic »
>      >>>> Mad Men Watch: Phone Booths and Lies
>      >>>> TIME
>      >>>> This week's episode opened with Pete reading Thomas Pynchon's
>     The Crying
>      >>>> of Lot 49 on the train. Even though it was Pynchon's shortest
>     novel, it's
>      >>>> pretty heavy reading for a commute, especially for a man who
>     exchanged a
>      >>>> wedding present for a .22 ...
>      >>>> See all stories on this topic »
>      >>>
>      >>>
>      >>>
>     http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4050623150817&set=p.4050623150817
>      >>
>      >>
>      >>
>      >>
>     http://www.theonion.com/articles/man-reading-pynchon-on-bus-takes-pains-to-make-cov,3192/
>      >>
>      >
>
>
>
>