"You hide, they seek."
October 13, 2014 10:23 AM Subscribe
In tonight's performance of "Inherent Vice," the role of Thomas Pynchon's Cameo will be played by Professor Irwin Corey.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 10:35 AM on October 13, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 10:35 AM on October 13, 2014 [3 favorites]
I once met someone who claimed to work for Pynchon's weed connection while he ( the guy not Pynchon) was at NYU. I thought he was full of shit but impressed that that was his go-to pick up line.
posted by The Whelk at 10:42 AM on October 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 10:42 AM on October 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
I'd like to believe he's a bit like Bill Murray, and sits down across from random folks in diners, eats fries off their plates and says "I'm Thomas Pynchon, but no one will ever believe this happened to you".
posted by OHenryPacey at 10:46 AM on October 13, 2014 [9 favorites]
posted by OHenryPacey at 10:46 AM on October 13, 2014 [9 favorites]
I once met someone who claimed to work for Pynchon's weed connection while he ( the guy not Pynchon) was at NYU. I thought he was full of shit but impressed that that was his go-to pick up line.
Better Thomas Pynchon Related Pick-Up Lines:
- "I'm Thomas Pynchon....no really." *puts on paper bag with question mark on it* "See."
- *quotes first 10 pages of Mason & Dixon verbatim*
- "I don't know him, but I do know his barber." *has pre-established arrangement with best friend who pretends to be barber of Thomas Pynchon, pulls out cell phone and proceeds to dial*
posted by Fizz at 10:50 AM on October 13, 2014 [4 favorites]
Better Thomas Pynchon Related Pick-Up Lines:
- "I'm Thomas Pynchon....no really." *puts on paper bag with question mark on it* "See."
- *quotes first 10 pages of Mason & Dixon verbatim*
- "I don't know him, but I do know his barber." *has pre-established arrangement with best friend who pretends to be barber of Thomas Pynchon, pulls out cell phone and proceeds to dial*
posted by Fizz at 10:50 AM on October 13, 2014 [4 favorites]
I RTFA and I don't get what he means by DFW's literary legacy being sullied by his perceived personality. What was his perceived personality? Everything I've read about him describes him as an affable tennis player and then makes assumptions about his depression.
I am sensing there is literati-drama I'm missing out on and I want in on the gossip.
posted by annathea at 10:52 AM on October 13, 2014 [5 favorites]
I am sensing there is literati-drama I'm missing out on and I want in on the gossip.
posted by annathea at 10:52 AM on October 13, 2014 [5 favorites]
I don't know about Thomas Pynchon in person, but on the page, he's an absolute charmer and probably the only 77 year old man I'd admit to having a wee bit of a crush on.
posted by thivaia at 10:59 AM on October 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by thivaia at 10:59 AM on October 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
Pynchon being the Unabomber was my favourite theory, but in general I think I could do with knowing less about most other writers and artists rather than more about Thomas Pynchon.
posted by sobarel at 11:06 AM on October 13, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by sobarel at 11:06 AM on October 13, 2014 [4 favorites]
"I'm Thomas Pynchon, but no one will ever believe this happened to you".
Reclusive Author Thomas Pynchon Rushed To Hospital
Thomas Pynchon, author of Gravity's Rainbow and Inherent Vice (soon to be a major motion picture by Paul Thomas Anderson) was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital earlier today after being pummeled by local resident Shelbert Cornflake.
"He just snuck up behind me and put his hands over my eyes," Cornflake explained in his statement to the police, "he said that no one would ever believe this happened to me. I guess I should be flattered but to tell you the truth, I'm not even sure who Thomas Pinchers is."
posted by griphus at 11:12 AM on October 13, 2014 [19 favorites]
Reclusive Author Thomas Pynchon Rushed To Hospital
Thomas Pynchon, author of Gravity's Rainbow and Inherent Vice (soon to be a major motion picture by Paul Thomas Anderson) was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital earlier today after being pummeled by local resident Shelbert Cornflake.
"He just snuck up behind me and put his hands over my eyes," Cornflake explained in his statement to the police, "he said that no one would ever believe this happened to me. I guess I should be flattered but to tell you the truth, I'm not even sure who Thomas Pinchers is."
posted by griphus at 11:12 AM on October 13, 2014 [19 favorites]
I RTFA and I don't get what he means by DFW's literary legacy being sullied by his perceived personality.
Probably he's thinking about people reading the marginalia in his self-help books, and things like that.
posted by thelonius at 11:21 AM on October 13, 2014
Probably he's thinking about people reading the marginalia in his self-help books, and things like that.
posted by thelonius at 11:21 AM on October 13, 2014
Thomas Pinchers
hes a crab who can rite a boke
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:24 PM on October 13, 2014 [13 favorites]
hes a crab who can rite a boke
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:24 PM on October 13, 2014 [13 favorites]
the Clawing of Lot 49
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:24 PM on October 13, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:24 PM on October 13, 2014 [5 favorites]
I've cogitated and concluded there are no more crustacean-related puns possible with Pynchon novel titles.
posted by sobarel at 12:33 PM on October 13, 2014
posted by sobarel at 12:33 PM on October 13, 2014
V. but the "V" is a crab claw.
posted by griphus at 12:35 PM on October 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by griphus at 12:35 PM on October 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
Against the Cray
posted by Lorin at 12:36 PM on October 13, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by Lorin at 12:36 PM on October 13, 2014 [5 favorites]
You should both be ashamed of yourselves.
posted by sobarel at 12:37 PM on October 13, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by sobarel at 12:37 PM on October 13, 2014 [4 favorites]
Inherent Vice can stay unchanged tho.
posted by The Whelk at 12:39 PM on October 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 12:39 PM on October 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
Inherent Woodlice
posted by Devonian at 12:41 PM on October 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Devonian at 12:41 PM on October 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
Telson & Dixon
posted by Earthtopus at 12:46 PM on October 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Earthtopus at 12:46 PM on October 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
I don't know about Thomas Pynchon in person, but on the page, he's an absolute charmer and probably the only 77 year old man I'd admit to having a wee bit of a crush on.
He is a charmer, isn't he. I usually skip the dossiers because I don't want to sully that relationship. I'll admit though to a shamefully prurient interest in the bit about his sex life, as long as there are no photos. People say Pynchon can't write about sex; I disagree. Maybe he can't write about vanilla sex, but he has a gift for writing about BDSM in a way that is supremely erudite, and erotic. What I'm saying is enough with the detective stories, how 'bout a bodice-ripper?
PS. BRINELAND
sorry
posted by Lorin at 12:48 PM on October 13, 2014 [4 favorites]
He is a charmer, isn't he. I usually skip the dossiers because I don't want to sully that relationship. I'll admit though to a shamefully prurient interest in the bit about his sex life, as long as there are no photos. People say Pynchon can't write about sex; I disagree. Maybe he can't write about vanilla sex, but he has a gift for writing about BDSM in a way that is supremely erudite, and erotic. What I'm saying is enough with the detective stories, how 'bout a bodice-ripper?
PS. BRINELAND
sorry
posted by Lorin at 12:48 PM on October 13, 2014 [4 favorites]
In millipedes, the telson consists of a legless pre-anal body segment (which may contain an posterior extension known as an epiproct), a pair of anal valves (paraprocts) or plates closing off the anus, and a plate below the anus (hypoproct), also known as a subanal scale.
I've learned a word and also read a sentence on Wikipedia that includes 3 anals and 2 anuses. Champion stuff.
posted by sobarel at 12:53 PM on October 13, 2014 [3 favorites]
I've learned a word and also read a sentence on Wikipedia that includes 3 anals and 2 anuses. Champion stuff.
posted by sobarel at 12:53 PM on October 13, 2014 [3 favorites]
how 'bout a bodice-ripper?
Ripped bodices abound in Mason & Dixon. If memory serves, some a them bodices even mended themselves.
posted by Zerowensboring at 12:54 PM on October 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
Ripped bodices abound in Mason & Dixon. If memory serves, some a them bodices even mended themselves.
posted by Zerowensboring at 12:54 PM on October 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
To wit, page 156. Dixon is in Dutch Africa. An amorous meisje, surname Vroom, accosts him.
"They all know I'm in here with you." She seizes the two sides of her Bodice and tears it apart. A young Bosom appears, pale and pink. "Did you just do that? Shall I call out that you did? Or was it a Spontaneous Seam Separation, apt to happen to any bodice, really?"
"Thou did it, Lass."
"They won't believe that."
"So they may say. But they know thee."
"Brutal Albion, you are making it difficult for me to love you." She presses together a few hidden Snaps, and the Bodice is once again complete. "Mr. Mason was never so cold."
posted by Zerowensboring at 1:05 PM on October 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
"They all know I'm in here with you." She seizes the two sides of her Bodice and tears it apart. A young Bosom appears, pale and pink. "Did you just do that? Shall I call out that you did? Or was it a Spontaneous Seam Separation, apt to happen to any bodice, really?"
"Thou did it, Lass."
"They won't believe that."
"So they may say. But they know thee."
"Brutal Albion, you are making it difficult for me to love you." She presses together a few hidden Snaps, and the Bodice is once again complete. "Mr. Mason was never so cold."
posted by Zerowensboring at 1:05 PM on October 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
This isn't about DFW, but in terms of his lesser personality traits, there are some reports of quotes like this. They're pretty disturbing statements. I've yet to read his biography, and before I spend a lot of emotional energy on it, I'd like to have a broader context to fit them in.
posted by lownote at 1:07 PM on October 13, 2014
posted by lownote at 1:07 PM on October 13, 2014
On Pynchon, I find it really nice that he's allowed to maintain his recluse life. Its a huge luxury as a creative person in 2014, and for some reason it seems sweet to me that he's able to make it work without his publisher hassling him to do this or that.
posted by lownote at 1:12 PM on October 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by lownote at 1:12 PM on October 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
crabbity's rainbow
posted by pyramid termite at 1:17 PM on October 13, 2014 [7 favorites]
posted by pyramid termite at 1:17 PM on October 13, 2014 [7 favorites]
Someone might recognize him on the street as he wolfs down a foot-long sub and shoot questions about politics toward him, and he’ll speak with his mouth full and ranch dressing is going to go absolutely everywhere
Oh please. Pynchon doesn't eat ranch dressing. Pffft!
posted by Splunge at 1:22 PM on October 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
Oh please. Pynchon doesn't eat ranch dressing. Pffft!
posted by Splunge at 1:22 PM on October 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
"A breaming comes across the sky"
posted by zippy at 1:31 PM on October 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by zippy at 1:31 PM on October 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
Don't Ever Antagonize the Horned Decorator Crab
posted by Zerowensboring at 1:32 PM on October 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Zerowensboring at 1:32 PM on October 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
'If they can get you asking the wrong crustaceans, they don't have to worry about anchovies.'
posted by MonkeyToes at 1:47 PM on October 13, 2014 [7 favorites]
posted by MonkeyToes at 1:47 PM on October 13, 2014 [7 favorites]
Slow Lobster. And Inherent Pike.
posted by MonkeyToes at 1:48 PM on October 13, 2014
posted by MonkeyToes at 1:48 PM on October 13, 2014
My opinion of Vice articles is really conflicted, and this is a good example of why.
On one hand, I often appreciate the subject matter of their articles, in the sense that they choose topics that are esoteric and niche enough to capture my attention. What typically happens though is I begin reading the article and then something like this sentence appears:
It's generally assumed that because Pynchon does not get photographed by paparazzi falling out of a cab at 4 AM he is therefore an enigma.
A statement like this jolts me out of my reading flow, it's like when the boom mike shows up in a feature film. I have such a hard time getting past this type of writing: Who "generally assumes" anything ? The fact that it's trying to pass itself off as a logical statement is even more frustrating. This sentence is like a lesson on how to use the word "therefore" to annoy people.
Ok, sorry for the rant. Pynchon is da bomb, definitely not the Unabomber type either
posted by jeremias at 1:58 PM on October 13, 2014 [3 favorites]
On one hand, I often appreciate the subject matter of their articles, in the sense that they choose topics that are esoteric and niche enough to capture my attention. What typically happens though is I begin reading the article and then something like this sentence appears:
It's generally assumed that because Pynchon does not get photographed by paparazzi falling out of a cab at 4 AM he is therefore an enigma.
A statement like this jolts me out of my reading flow, it's like when the boom mike shows up in a feature film. I have such a hard time getting past this type of writing: Who "generally assumes" anything ? The fact that it's trying to pass itself off as a logical statement is even more frustrating. This sentence is like a lesson on how to use the word "therefore" to annoy people.
Ok, sorry for the rant. Pynchon is da bomb, definitely not the Unabomber type either
posted by jeremias at 1:58 PM on October 13, 2014 [3 favorites]
Yes, yes, this is all very sweet and entertaining, but I want Thomas Pynchon to stop stringing me along and publish The Frying of Latke 49, already.
posted by bakerina at 2:12 PM on October 13, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by bakerina at 2:12 PM on October 13, 2014 [3 favorites]
annathea: I RTFA and I don't get what he means by DFW's literary legacy being sullied by his perceived personality. What was his perceived personality?
There's some pretty unpleasant stuff in D.T. Max's Wallace biog, particularly related to Mary Karr - apparently he once threw her out of a moving car in the middle of an argument they were having. Also, not sure if this is entirely relevant, but I wondered a while back about what Wallace's unintended legacy – with the opening of his personal archives and the shift in focus that that would necessarily end up precipitating – might end up being a few years back on MeFi here.
posted by Len at 2:30 PM on October 13, 2014 [3 favorites]
There's some pretty unpleasant stuff in D.T. Max's Wallace biog, particularly related to Mary Karr - apparently he once threw her out of a moving car in the middle of an argument they were having. Also, not sure if this is entirely relevant, but I wondered a while back about what Wallace's unintended legacy – with the opening of his personal archives and the shift in focus that that would necessarily end up precipitating – might end up being a few years back on MeFi here.
posted by Len at 2:30 PM on October 13, 2014 [3 favorites]
Draw a line from Malta to Lampreydusa. Call it Ishmael. Somewhere in that circle, on the evening of the tenth, he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him whom the Fates ordained to take the place of Ahab's bowsman as another drawn towards the closing vortex O and the sea the sea crimson sometimes like fire and the subsequent surface phenomena—whitecaps, kelp islands, and any of a million figtrees in the Alameda gardens yes and all the queer little streets and the pink and blue and yellow houses and the rosegardens and the jessamine and geraniums and cactuses which should catch thereafter part of the brute glorious sunsets till, gaining that vital centre, I did revolve and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he lasted for fifteen minutes. Long enough to lift the xebec fifty feet, whirling and creaking, when the halfspent suction of the girl where I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girl that in her retracing search after her missing children, only found another black bubble or shall I wear a red yes and how A.’s throat naked to the unharming sharks glided by as if with padlocks on their breasts and his heart was going like mouths into the devious-cruising Rachel all perfume yes and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my piece of the Mediterranean upward burst; and now, liberated by reason of its cunning spring, and, rising with great force, the closing vortex. When I reached it, it had subsided to a creamy pool. I was then, but slowly, drawn towards the sun’s spectrum buoyed up by that soft and dirgelike main showed nothing at all of what came to lie beneath, that quiet June day. The drama's done and I only am escaped alone to tell thee and yes I said yes I will Yes.
-- Final lines of U. or: The Crab, by Joyce Melville Pyncers
posted by Herodios at 3:06 PM on October 13, 2014 [5 favorites]
crabbity's rainbow
Pfft.
Gravity's Rainbow Trout
posted by zamboni at 5:14 PM on October 13, 2014 [3 favorites]
Pfft.
Gravity's Rainbow Trout
posted by zamboni at 5:14 PM on October 13, 2014 [3 favorites]
It was pretty clear from the article that it was "generally assumed" by reporters.
posted by empath at 5:55 PM on October 13, 2014
posted by empath at 5:55 PM on October 13, 2014
crabbity's rainbow
Pfft.
Gravity's Rainbow Trout
A trout is not a really an arthropod;
Crabbage is an arthropod, makes it okay . . .
Call any arthropod, call 'em by name,
Call any arthropod, when you get off the train
Call any arthropod
And the chances are good
Tha-at the arthropod will respond to you . . .
Decapodi-oddi, decapodi-oddi
Decapodi-oddi, decapodi-oddi
Decapodeeeeeeeee . . .
posted by Herodios at 6:47 PM on October 13, 2014 [3 favorites]
Pfft.
Gravity's Rainbow Trout
A trout is not a really an arthropod;
Crabbage is an arthropod, makes it okay . . .
Call any arthropod, call 'em by name,
Call any arthropod, when you get off the train
Call any arthropod
And the chances are good
Tha-at the arthropod will respond to you . . .
Decapodi-oddi, decapodi-oddi
Decapodi-oddi, decapodi-oddi
Decapodeeeeeeeee . . .
posted by Herodios at 6:47 PM on October 13, 2014 [3 favorites]
The Crabbing of Pier 49
posted by StrangerInAStrainedLand at 10:10 PM on October 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by StrangerInAStrainedLand at 10:10 PM on October 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
sick of this hermit story
posted by zangpo at 10:12 PM on October 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by zangpo at 10:12 PM on October 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
I can't believe there has been no mention of A Journey Into the Mind of P in this thread at all.
posted by hippybear at 11:30 PM on October 13, 2014
posted by hippybear at 11:30 PM on October 13, 2014
Oh, yeah, um.. Slaw Learner?
It's more of a side dish than a big seafood serving.
posted by hippybear at 11:31 PM on October 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
It's more of a side dish than a big seafood serving.
posted by hippybear at 11:31 PM on October 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
I RTFA and I don't get what he means by DFW's literary legacy being sullied by his perceived personality. What was his perceived personality?
I can't speak for anyone else, but I read IJ years after DFW committed suicide, and that definitely colored my impression of the book. I didn't think any less of it as a work of literature, but it definitely made the depressing aspects of the book stand out more. I mean, Hal seemed to be kind of a stand-in for DFW, and one of the central mysteries of the book -- introduced in the first chapter, no less -- is, "What happens to Hal?" Well, maybe Hal kills himself. Not a happy thought to think. Whereas, had DFW not committed suicide, maybe some of the more uplifting aspects of the book -- such as the fate of Don Gately -- may have stood out more.
posted by evil otto at 11:56 PM on October 13, 2014
I can't speak for anyone else, but I read IJ years after DFW committed suicide, and that definitely colored my impression of the book. I didn't think any less of it as a work of literature, but it definitely made the depressing aspects of the book stand out more. I mean, Hal seemed to be kind of a stand-in for DFW, and one of the central mysteries of the book -- introduced in the first chapter, no less -- is, "What happens to Hal?" Well, maybe Hal kills himself. Not a happy thought to think. Whereas, had DFW not committed suicide, maybe some of the more uplifting aspects of the book -- such as the fate of Don Gately -- may have stood out more.
posted by evil otto at 11:56 PM on October 13, 2014
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posted by fairmettle at 10:33 AM on October 13, 2014 [3 favorites]