P's P's Please

[matthew cissell]

Hello Michel,

Thanks for the addition. I might point out, though you know all too well,
that the date of 1985 is just after he has met M. Jackson and dumped
Candida; they've just put out Slow Learner and TP will give us VL in just a
few years. No little one running around yet.

Getting married is one thing, having a child is quite another. I reckon
that the change in family situation brought about a reconcilation with his
parents. (Brings to mind the adage: "Growing up is learning to forgive your
parents for being who they are", to which I add that "Being grown up means
you don't have to forgive your parents for being what they are. Although
maybe that's more difficult if your father supported Nixon.)

   Have a good weekend.
ciao
mc

On Fri, Feb 19, 2016 at 11:24 AM, Michel <bulb at vheissu.net> wrote:

> If I remember well there was a piece in French paper Libé that quoted or
> his sister Judith or his mother Katherine Bennett as saying that "he wants
> us to leave him alone, so we leave him alone", or some sorts. Was about the
> best researched piece on Pynchon's life at the time.
>
> This piece:
>
> Fogel, Jean-François. "Les auteurs de nos 25 ans (Les compagnons de
> Libération). Sur la piste de 'Pynch'." Libération [19 March 1998]: 26-28.
> Biography originally published in Libération as L'écrivain invisible: la
> piste Pynchon [11 October 1985]: 30-33.
>
> Michel.
>
>
> On 2016-02-19 10:16, John Bailey wrote:
>
>> Have we even discussed that piece at length? I reread it this morning
>> (thanks Tyler!) and it's a really extensive piece of research, maybe
>> the most extensive on Pynchon's bio? And he seems to be very familiar
>> with the writing itself, if not overly respectful of the desire for
>> privacy.
>>
>> On Fri, Feb 19, 2016 at 7:56 PM, matthew cissell <mccissell at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Tyler,
>>>
>>> Thanks, I had forgetten about the Kachka piece. That must have been it,
>>> but
>>> I thought I had come across something that referred to his parents later
>>> years and a reconciliation of sorts.
>>>
>>> (What is the Pyn community consensus on the piece? I know that Jules
>>> Siegel's Playboy interview is sometimes called into question on grounds
>>> of
>>> motive (self-serving, revenge, etc.), but what about Boris' work?)
>>>
>>>    Ok, wait, you deserve big thanks my man. I went back to look at the
>>> Kachka piece and not only does it have the line you mention, but it also,
>>> further on, includes that in the 1990's, "Pynchon told friends he was
>>> seeing
>>> a lot more of his parents" which following what we know about Pynchon's
>>> politics and his parent's (father a Serious Republican and mother a
>>> serious
>>> catholic and likely anti-semite) allows us to infer that there was at
>>> least
>>> a rift of sorts that was then mended.
>>>
>>>   That's what I was after. I owe you a beer, or whatever.
>>>
>>> Very Appreciatively,
>>> Matt Cissell
>>>
>>> On Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 5:57 PM, Tyler Wilson <tbsqrd at hotmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Matthew —
>>>>
>>>> Though it isn't stated explicitly, that information can be gleaned from
>>>> a
>>>> couple passages of Boris Kachka's 2013 piece for Vulture:
>>>>
>>>> http://www.vulture.com/2013/08/thomas-pynchon-bleeding-edge.html
>>>>
>>>> " . . . he and his then-girlfriend, Mary Ann Tharaldsen, were driving
>>>> through Big Sur when she complained of nausea. She wanted to stop at a
>>>> bar
>>>> and have a shot to settle her stomach. According to Tharaldsen, he
>>>> exploded,
>>>> telling her he would not tolerate midday drinking. When she asked why,
>>>> he
>>>> told her he’d seen his mother, after drinking,  accidentally puncture
>>>> his
>>>> father’s eye with a clothespin. It was the only time, says Tharaldsen,
>>>> who
>>>> lived with him, that he ever mentioned his family. “He was disconnected
>>>> from
>>>> them,” she says. “There seems to have been something not good there.” "
>>>>
>>>> "Pynchon and Jackson married in 1990 and had a son—first name Jackson—a
>>>> year later. Pynchon told friends he was seeing a lot more of his
>>>> parents. .
>>>> . . "
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>> --
>>>> T
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Feb 18, 2016, at 3:59 AM, matthew cissell <mccissell at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Dear P-listers,
>>>>
>>>> I have a problem and that is that I could swear that I read somewhere
>>>> that
>>>> Pynchon had been a bit estranged from his folks but that he eventually
>>>> made
>>>> peace with them. Does that sound familiar to anyone? Where did that come
>>>> from? I can't find the source now. Was it from Phyllis Gebauer?
>>>>
>>>> Beseechingly,
>>>> mc otis
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -
>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>>
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>
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