Bleeding Edge Cover

[Monte Davis]

Good thumbnail. My family lived on E. 23rd St., but in 1960-1966 I attended Collegiate School on W. 77th (as Jackson Pynchon did more recently). In good weather we traipsed daily to either Central Park or Riverside Park for recreation. Most of my classmates lived on  either Upper West or Upper East Side. In 1973-1976 I shared one of those sprawling prewar apartments on W. 76th with a changing cast of other writing/editing/publishing types. I've had friends in the neighborhood and around Columbia ever since, so still feel comfortable in the streetscape and landscape -- but in the socioeconomic-scape, with the changes you note, not so much. 

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On Behalf Of kelber at mindspring.com
Sent: Friday, April 12, 2013 9:17 PM
To: pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: Re: Bleeding Edge Cover

Pynchon's describing his neighborhood, the Upper West Side. A slice of life about an affluent yuppie parent (naming no names here) walking her kids to school. past the nannies, (overpriced, inflated) bagel stores, etc. An apt period description of the neighborhood that, back in the day, would have been more haunted by some of the less-monied members of the Whole Sick Crew. Back in the 50s to 60s, the UWS was populated by struggling-to-middle-income writers, artists, professors, and intellectuals (would-be or actual, predominantly, or at least notably Jewish. See the sequence in Annie Hall where Woody Allen reduces Carol Kane to a racial stereotype). They lived in dark, sprawling, to-die-for pre-war apartments, with 3-4 bedrooms, and dreadful plumbing and wiring. The UWS's northern border was the Columbia U campus, and nearby, the West End Cafe, a jazz spot/coffee house. Harlem loomed just north, frightening all but the most left-politicked whities from inhabiting the neighborhood. But those killer (gigantic) apartments were such lushly primo real estate, once the white-flight of the 60s-70s started to reverse itself in the 80s and 90s, that by 2001, the neighborhood had turned solidly upper class. Long lines for brunch, black nannies feeding precocious toddlers in designer strollers their pureed organic pears, etc. As it remains to this day (along with too many areas of Brooklyn).

I'm sure that Pynchon's choice of this setting isn't just writing what he knows, but must have to do with the dot com bubble encasing/obscuring the real neighborhood underneath. Just as lots of mom-and-pop stores downtown were ripped apart to clear the way for the Trade Center towers.

Laura


-----Original Message-----
>From: John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com>
>Sent: Apr 12, 2013 7:28 PM
>To: Bekah <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net>
>Cc: rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com>, Antonin Scriabin 
><kierkegaurdian at gmail.com>, Don Higgins <bencanard2000 at yahoo.com>, 
>Pynchon List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>Subject: Re: Bleeding Edge Cover
>
>Any NY-dwellers circa 2001 able to comment on the opening? Were Callery 
>Pears common? I've never heard of the tree but they seem rife in North 
>America.
>
>The first page paints a very vivid portrait to me, much moreso than 
>most of P's openers. But that could be because it gels with countless 
>TV/movie credit sequences set in the town. Which is perfectly 
>appropriate.
>
>On Sat, Apr 13, 2013 at 9:25 AM, Bekah <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>> Well -  that's almost starting with a date - (as I predicted a day or so ago):
>>
>> "It's the first day of spring, 2001 and Maxine Tarnow …"
>>
>> Bekah
>>
>>
>> On Apr 12, 2013, at 11:51 AM, rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> excerpt on pg 33
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Apr 12, 2013 at 2:49 PM, rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> another promo playlist and video, too
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Apr 12, 2013 at 2:46 PM, Antonin Scriabin <kierkegaurdian at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Wonder what the colors are going to be ...
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Apr 12, 2013 at 2:40 PM, Don Higgins <bencanard2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> See page 5
>>> http://booksellers.penguin.com/static/pdf/penguinpress-fall13.pdf
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>