SLPAD - 76 - first occurrence of my fave Pynchon line

[matthew cissell]

Dear Michael,

I got something for you to fill out your reading. That line? "“I like to
see young people get together.” TP uses that in a letter (I forget each
one) that is in the Harry Ransom collection in Austin. However, I can't
recall if the date is from before or after the publication of that story.
Have  you ever seen any of that stuff? (A treasure in my opinion. Makes me
wonder what scholars will find in the new collection that went out west.)
One could connect that to Roger and Jessica perhaps. Or even the Chums
pairing up. Le jeune amour! Death Shall Have No Dominion!

I'll take a look and get back to you.

ciao
mc



On Thu, Jun 8, 2023 at 11:58 AM Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
wrote:

> - so many things one notices trying to add commentary.
>
> Kinda missin’ group reads tho, seeing the treasures other people have found
>
>
> I was a little bummed that daedalus.fly unsubscribed in the same Digest as
> my brief “Zen” comment the other day. Contiguity doesn’t prove causality,
> right?
>
> I’m not taking it personally, though ideally my commentary would inspire
> greater list-loyalty & replies.
>
> & yes, there is more in that page that I didn’t try to elucidate, ie it
> wasn’t my strongest SLPAD ever.
>
> For instance, the inflated body (an early instantiation of TRP’s “balloon”
> recurring motif &, arguably, “theme”) - but it didn’t spark profusion of
> commentary, beyond noting that rather tenuous connection to his later work,
> and pondering the fragility of the body in life & even in death (which I
> don’t have anything very new or great to say about)
>
>
> Or that Picnic has the notion - the respect? - not to say anything when
> Levine gets back.
>
>
> Until the next page, after Levine has had his long, long meditative shower
> & is getting ready for the date with Buttercup, when Picnic contributes,
>
> “I like to see young people get together.”
>
> Even in a first reading of _V._, “we all like to see young people get
> together,” was a standout line, one that I added permanently to my
> word-hoard & use as often as I can (usually without attribution)
>
> Did he also crib this from somewhere, I wonder?
>
>
> Anyhoo - apologies for pontificating yest about geopolitical issues above
> my pay grade.
>
> I was curious about the article, but not enough to read it - had to spell
> out for myself why - & within the friendly context of the list thought it
> might be worthwhile to solicit from anyone who did read it a nice précis. I
> do those myself from time to time & they’re always fun.
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>