is Thomas Pynchon a real person?

[thunderbyrd]

or is "Thomas Pynchon" a construct by a conspiritorious cabal of writers/publishers/critics, scamming the public?

prove it one way or another.

PS: I don't know if there is such a word as "Conspiritorious" and if there is, I don't know how to spell it.

 

[Dan German]

Real person.

Had a beer with him.

Disprove it one way or another.

 

[Jupiter]

*conspiricitational

 

[Strum und Twang]

Somebody had to do the voice over for the Simpsons' episode featuring his "bagged" cameo.

 

[Jerry Lee]

Thomas Pynchon is a real person. His books however are but a dagger of the mind, a false creation proceeding from a heat oppressed brain.

 

[thunderbyrd]

Thomas Pynchon is a real person. His books however are but a dagger of the mind, a false creation proceeding from a heat oppressed brain.

yep, that's what I always say.

 

[Mjark]

I've been meaning to see Inherent Vice.

 

[bigbean]

I've read most of his books. I've read several twice including V and Gravity's Rainbow (about twenty years apart).

I have started Mason and Dixon three times and never made it past page 180. The revolutionary war loquetions and spellings wear me down. The talking dog sequence is cool though.

Of the recent books Inherent Vice was the most fun. Though the thanatoids in Vineland were very entertaining.

Rock on team Yoyodyne!

 

[BigDaddyLH]

On another forum I had several userids, including "DrLaszloJamf". By sig was"From the Imipolex G keyboard of..."

Much later I found out what "JAMF" might stand for, and that Charlie Parker might have said it.

 

[Mjark]

I've read most of his books. I've read several twice including V and Gravity's Rainbow (about twenty years apart).

I have started Mason and Dixon three times and never made it past page 180. The revolutionary war loquetions and spellings wear me down. The talking dog sequence is cool though.

Of the recent books Inherent Vice was the most fun. Though the thanatoids in Vineland were very entertaining.

Rock on team Yoyodyne!

I have Mason & Dixon around here somewhere. I need to give it a go. I've read all the others.

 

[Mahalo]

On another forum I had several userids, including "DrLaszloJamf". By sig was"From the Imipolex G keyboard of..."

Much later I found out what "JAMF" might stand for, and that Charlie Parker might have said it.

You never did! The Kenosha kid.

 

[jmiles]

Reading Gravity's Rainbow again. Liked The Crying of Lot 49 and V a lot. But Mason and Dixon? Nope! Just couldn't get into it. Love his prose style! GR is so full of obscure **** facts!

 

[Mjark]

The movie stinks on ice.

 

[Guitarteach]

I'm actually reading Gravity's Rainbow at the moment. Only about a hundred pages in. Maybe a bit too post modern, stream of consciousness like for me for regular reading but the style does work.

I need to concentrate on it, so will use a few long flights coming up to immerse myself into it more.

 

[BigDaddyLH]

I'm actually reading Gravity's Rainbow at the moment. Only about a hundred pages in. Maybe a bit too post modern, stream of consciousness like for me for regular reading but the style does work.

I need to concentrate on it, so will use a few long flights coming up to immerse myself into it more.

It's not a beach read!

This isn't giving away anything, but the main character Tyrone Slothrop doesn't even appear in the last 100 pages of the novel. The next time I reread it, I'm going to try to note his last appearance.

 

[Octave Doctor]

I know a guy who'd had Pynchon as a roomate in college, so yes, a real person. Mason And Dixon bogged me down, too. I like most of his other books.

 

[syrynx]

In one of the songs I wrote, I slipped in a reference to an Edsel Escondido. Nice to see that so many folks here would catch the reference.

I'm convinced, based upon internal evidence, that all the works of Thomas Pynchon were written by one person. They're just too consistent for it to be otherwise. His baptismal name may have been Francis Bacon, but since he calls himself Thomas Pynchon, we might as well, too.

Full disclosure: I haven't read 'em all. A friend turned me on to V. in 1967, and started it, but made it through only about 500 pages before giving up. The Crying of Lot 49 was no problem. I started Gravity's Rainbow as soon as it became available in paperback (1974?), read 150 pages, said to myself, "This is too good not to read in a single sitting!", and deferred it unti I had the time to do that, in 1980.

Since then, I've made another stab at V. and failed again. I had no trouble finishing Slow Learner and Vineland. Mason & Dixon was a long, slow slog, but I did finish and enjoy it. I've checked out Inherent Vice from the library twice, but just wasn't in the mood.

But I read Against the Day and Bleeding Edge with a computer at my elbow, browser open to a search engine. Being able to dispel my own ignorance at least slightly made a huge difference in my comprehension and enjoyment of the books. I'm now planning to do the same thing with V., Gravity's Rainbow, and Mason & Dixon. Inherent Vice? We'll see.

 

[jz63]

I keep starting Gravity's Rainbow but head a wall 100 or so pages in. It's one of those Ulysses, Tristam Shandy, etc type books that I'm just going to have to commit to one day. Lot 49 on the other hand was a lot friendlier.

 

[Guitarteach]

In fact I am thinking it is autogenerated by a post modern writing algorithm as is the work of literary critics.

Maybe it is a cabal of computers having a laugh

Check out... And refresh it..

http://www.elsewhere.org/journal/pomo/

 

[bigbean]

.

Since then, I've made another stab at V. and failed again. I'm now planning to do the same thing with V., Gravity's Rainbow, and Mason & Dixon. Inherent Vice? We'll see.

V is worth it.

V is a book that I might reread again for the third time. It's been long enough now that much of it has faded in what's left of my mind. It would be interesting to see how all of the man/machine examinations from the 60s hold up in 2015. Is it a 60s/70s set piece or more outside of time.

Hunting albino alligators in the New york sewers as a sport that never was has no equal.

There is my subgroup of the day "sports that never were". How about London to Glasgow ox cart racing in the fifteenth century.