Pyn's Privacy

[John Bailey]

I work in the media and have no problem with Pynchon's apparently profound
suspicion towards reporters. In some cases he is absolutely 100% justified.
And many writers take up the pen because of social anxieties of various
sorts, preferring to exert more control over their communication that way.
Given Pynchon's otherworldly dexterity with the written word, he might fall
in that camp. I'm not that into pathologising an author through their
writing, though.

On Fri, May 10, 2013 at 1:55 PM, Rich Clavey <antizoyd at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Malignd, methinks, is right. It might not even have anything to do with
> his looks. I myself am a fine looking human being (if I may say so), and
> have an extremely difficult time relating to people in real life much less
> in the media (which would scare the hell out me). No logical reason for it.
> With Pynchon either it's a from-the-beginning marketing strategy or (what I
> think) a phobia. Or both.
> Rich
>
>
> --- On *Thu, 5/9/13, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>* wrote:
>
>
> From: David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: Pyn's Privacy
> To: "malignd at aol.com" <malignd at aol.com>
> Cc: "pynchon-l at waste.org" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Date: Thursday, May 9, 2013, 5:15 PM
>
> I think I agree with malignd.  Why are Mr P's teeth so screwed up?  Was
> he too poor for orthodontic help?  They don't seem to have stopped him from
> great associations at Cornell, but was he a class clown to compensate (or
> maybe well endowed?)?  Were his parents too poor, despite his blue blood
> heritage, to fix his teeth?  Did he go to Cornell on a scholarship w/o $
> from his parents?  His teeth really do beg these questions.
>
> I mean all these questions sincerely.
> David Morris
>
> On Thursday, May 9, 2013, wrote:
>
> Well, Pynchon isn't Hank Williams.  This cockeyed notion that, were he not
> private to the extent that he seems to many ti be reclusive, that he'd be
> hounded by paparazzi, is absurd.  He's created this situation.  Is there
> any major writer who was inordinately denied his privacy?  Roth, Gaddis,
> Bellow, Delillo, Heller, etc. -- all dealt with the press occasionally, but
> didn't suffer any particular loss of privacy. So yes, I think he's phobic.
>  I mentioned this once before and was taken to task for tastelessness, but
> the man is notably homely.  He may be sensitive about his looks and that's
> what's afoot.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Matthew Cissell <macissell at yahoo.es>
> To: Rev'd Seventy-Six <revd.76 at gmail.com>; pynchon-l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Sent: Thu, May 9, 2013 5:49 am
> Subject: Pyn's Privacy
>
>  Yeh, I saw the link - it's not for me. Deleted. Do I need the photo? no.
>
> I've made the argumetn before, he is no recluse or introverted weirdo. And I
> don't think it's a gimmik either. (It is almost funny how the real story of the
> Time photographers got turned into him "jumping out a window and running off
> into the desert", almost.)
>
> Siegel (I think) claimed TP was upset by M. Monroe's death, and why not; it
> seems plausible to me. But there were other examples of people being consumed by
> their stardom. Consider the Hank Williams Sr. quote: "They're slicing me up and
> selling me like bologna." The mid 20th century saw the creation of The Big Fame
> Machine, unknown human goes in and a package comes out; when it is rung dry you
> find another. I think TP saw this behemouth growing and decided he didn't want
> to play along. By the time Kerouac drank himself to death, I bet TP was pretty
> happy that he had avoided all that publicity/ fame BS.
>
> Of course it is interesting to see how he is trying to navigate this situation
> anew and play the game by his rules, not those of the Big Media fame machine.
> Can he work the machine without getting worked over? We'll see in the September
> episode of Swift Tom and the Media Monster Machine.
>
> ciao
> mc
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Rev'd Seventy-Six <revd.76 at gmail.com>
> To: Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com>; "pynchon-l at waste.org"
> <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Sent: Thursday, May 9, 2013 2:04 AM
> Subject: Re: Every Known Picture of Thomas Pynchon
>
>
> The man worked hard for his privacy. What's with this sick cult of
> personality capitalism encourages, where fans and/or glory hounds
> insist on imposing their existence on a man who desires no
> introduction? I like his books. I know him from his books. I think
> that's where the fence is positioned. If he wanted any old busybody to
> cross it he'd be eating in Ralph's Big Boy at two thirty every
> afternoon.
>
> Media... pffft.
>
> On 5/8/13, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com> wrote:
> > http://www.bookofjoe.com/2009/08/every-known-picture-of-thomas-pynchon.html
> >
> > The Truth about Thomas Pynchon
> >
> > http://www.verifiedfacts.org/i/pynchon/NDEwNjYw
> >
>
>
> -- http://posthistoricpress.blogspot.com/
>
>
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