"Mixed in with his actual writing skills, Pynchon discusses

>proto fascist

Huh Pynchon always seemed like a libertarian socialist to me but I guess I can see it

>>7549048
Can't wait for his full bio when he kicks the bucket

I never saw him being outright racist. Sexist, sure, but racist?

>>7549107
>>7549159
I don't think it's in any of his novels. It's more of a phase he said he went through. And maybe some early stories which he rips apart.

>>7549048
what was the point to slow learner?

>>7549118

I'll laugh my ass off if there's an official autobio.

>>7549159
Considering his leanings at the time, I wouldn't be surprised (saddened, but not surprised) if he were now one of those people who would consider V. or GR racist.

>>7550995
He took a dim view of V. even just shortly after writing it.

>>7549118
"Pynchon" is a pseudonym, he's a fictional person. We will probably never know who he actually is.

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>>7549107
hence his apology
hey hold the fuck on...
>libertarian socialist

>>7549107
Have you read Gravity's Rainbow? He's definitely on the Libertarian/ancap end of the spectrum.

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>>7551458
>mfw "thomas pynchon" is just the pen name used by the collective author that is /lit/ and its predecessors

>>7551104
Really? Do you have a source? Not doubting you I'd just be interested in reading it

>>7551104

I think every writer kinda hates their first real piece. He still seems a lot more proud of V than he was Lot 49. Also I believe his comments of his own racism were in reference to the short stories in Slow Learner.

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>>7551509
Because Thomas Pynchon, like the character Stencil, enjoys referring to himself in the third person.

Nah, just kidding. I am a student at UT Austin and our library has a collection of some letters Pynchon wrote during/shortly after the release of V. In a few such letters, he expresses (sometimes fairly severe) dissatisfaction with the both the novel and himself.

Here is a picture I took one day of a paragraph which speaks somewhat to that effect.

>>7551901
Sorry it is sideways and big as fuck. I am posting from my phone.

>>7551901
Wow that's awesome. Can't believe somebody with Pynchon's talent could be so self-lacerating.

>>7551901
This is really cool. Thank you! Do you guys have this digitized by any chance?

UT Austin has some great archives, the whole DFW library being there is a cool little resource too.

>>7551901
Fuck, I've been struggling with my writing this whole week and this brought me to tears.

>>7551901
Damn son. My respect for Tommy P just continues to rise. Even though Gravity's Rainbow is the only novel of his I've been able to finish, he seems like such an intelligent, well-rounded, interesting person. I'd give anything just to have a beer with the guy.

>>7551481
not a chance, you're projecting hard

>>7553036
...but Pynchon is actually good. You...are hopeless. Let's face it. You're on /lit/. You're delusional.

>>7553092
damn, you sound successful

>>7551901
at least he's self-aware of how shitty a writer he is. if only his fans were as much.

>>7551901
>...how not to lean on the crazy-assed surrealistic passage as a crutch when I'm too lazy to engage or keep the reader's attention, entertain or instruct him by more respectable and honest devices
wew lad

>>7551901

Who was that letter addressed to?

>>7553111
>>7553211
>>7553233
nice digits

>>7551901
fuck me, can you post any more? amazing

>>7553255
you're not so bad yourself

>>7553211
is amazing how he wants to be a traditional writer and fails at it and he's ashamed of what he's acclaimed for

although, we all know how it is when you are young and insecure like Tommy, i think he probably learned to like his first books now that he's old

>after all he is a Slow Learner!

>>7553297
He was just being a contrarian. We've all been through this.

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Sorry guys, I fell asleep.

>>7552381
The Harry Ransom Center has a ton of shit digitized, but unfortunately the Pynchon letters are not.

>>7553233
His literary agent and her husband (whose names escape me)

>>7553278
Sure, I'll go ahead and post the rest of what I have.

Quick Disclaimer: Most of these pictures do not relate to Pynchon's self-doubt. a few are about Borges, one kinda outlines the catalyst (or one of the catalysts) of his institutional paranoia, a couple are Feghoot puns which he used to sign off his letters and which I thought were funny. I hope you guys find them interesting too.

(Also, they will still be sideways and huge. Sorry)

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1/2

>>7553475
>Question: is Bioy Casares real or not.
Haha I remember asking myself the same thing seeing his name after reading TUOT
Fucking Borges

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Last one

Cheers, very cool
I reckon some are going to be mad at this one stopping where it does >>7553489 -- even better.

>>7553475
I love this.

>>7551901
Do you have an exact date on this?

>>7553613
Afraid not

Every now and then we get an amazing Pynchon thread.

Pinecone is an Argentinaboo. Wow.

>>7551481
>>7551480

The Pynch is indeed a libertarian, as in, someone on the left socialism / anarchism spectrum.

If anything, all of his work seem to treat presidents and CEOs as either baboons or downright evil.

Murricans need to into politics.

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If anyone is interested, I can transcript these letters to word or something so we can add to that Pynchon apocrypha .epub /lit/ has made

>>7554158
As everybody knew from the paragraph in GR that goes, pretext what's a pretext, I want to talk about Argentina now!
Spot-on passage btw

>>7554214
/lit/ made that? I thought it was from mobilism, and mostly combining resources from a fan website

>>7554226
I got it from /lit/ and never opened it tbqh, this is the first of his non-published stuff I've ever felt like reading, but I'll transcribe them anyway

>>7553493
why didn't you post these before? were you just waiting for a fitting thread?

guys, if you have shit like this just make a thread about it, please

>>7553467
so Nick Shay's brothers in Underworld is Pynchon?

>>7549048
How do you pronounce this name?
In my head I always say it like "pine-cone"

>>7554229
Ooor you could also keep them mysterious and un-crawlable. Until googlebots start analysing flipped text in images too...

>>7554226
Yeah but he basically said
> ">reading spanish novels in translation"

>>7554214
link to this epub

>>7554241

I always pronounce in "pinch-on", though without much emphasis on the ch, mostly on the y

>>7554249
Was it the one in the memebooks file?

>>7553092
Projectin' ain't gewd fer ya, ace.

>>7554158
Buenos Aires is one of the most literary cities in the world so is not very shocking, in GR there's a little bit where he talks about Argentinian history, Roca, Martin Fierro

>>7554214
That would be greatly appreciated.

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On an unrelated note, is there any somewhat credible speculation about what Pynchon was doing between GR and Vineland? DFW thinks he might have been smoking a lot of pot and watching a lot of TV. I doubt that. But I have a glimmer of hope if this is actually the case because it allows me to justify my own laziness.

>>7555379
Writing Mason & Dixon probably.

>>7553493
you legend, cheers
>>7554214
link to epub please

>>7555452
I've only read his first two books. Does M&D really read like a product of 20 years' hard work?

>>7555663
Absolutely. It's clear he did a lot of research into 18th century American history and linguistics, and the novel itself is around 700 pages.

>>7553085
But surely conversation would be a failure, given his age and superior wisdom. Whaddaya gunna say? "U-uh... I'm trying to be a writer, too..."

It's a situation I'd constantly and internally pray for yet wish to never occur.

>>7555379
Writing M&D, which he started, at least in his mind, at the same time as he started V and GR.

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>>7550995
i bet he unironically shares salon articles about white privilege and is a top Hillary campaign donor. That's what you get for reading bluepilled meme authors

>>7556582
you are

scum

>>7556599
Not him, but you're retarded if you unrionically think Pynchon's work is racist

>>7556190
I wouldn't talk to him about writing. I'd just like to hear some of his cool old man stories.

>>7550995
>>7556582
>>7556629


i personally got pretty huge anti-racist and anti-imperialist vibes from /v/.

racism is a spook

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>>7556676
>Papa Pinch will never tell you bedtimes stories about the military-industrial complex being brought down by your favorite cartoon characters forming a We-system.

>>7553036
Good luck homie <3

>>7549048
desu he looks handsome in this picture

More people gotta see this dope thread

>>7556687
In modern ideologies anti-racism does not preclude racism, nor anti-imperialism - colonialism.

Just started reading GR

Wew lad, this is shaping up to be one hell of a ride. >>7553085

I saw Thomas Pynchon at a grocery store in New York one day. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything.

He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?”

I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen bananas in his hands without paying.

The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.

When she took one of the bananas and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each banana and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.

>>7559629
whenever this pops up, i read through the whole thing no matter what. never gets old.

>>7559848
>never gets old.

For you.

I want to be a part of this thread

>>7559860
that never gets old either, for some reason.

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http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/02/23/saved-from-drowning

>IN the spring of 1983, Donald Barthelme invited about twenty people to dinner at a restaurant in SoHo. The guest list included Thomas Pynchon, John Barth, William Gaddis, Robert Coover, John Hawkes, William Gass, Kurt Vonnegut, Walter Abish, and Susan Sontag. All of them turned up except Pynchon, who was out of the state and sent his regrets, and the writers made short speeches about their work and toasted their friendship. The affair became known as the Postmodernists Dinner.

CLASSIC PYNCHON

>>7560101
I wish I could write off my social assburgers as literary and pomo.

>>7555663
it's the only novel of his i've read but it's definitely one of the best books i've ever picked up. it has a vibe akin to that of moby-dick

>>7555911
closer to 800 pages, actually

>>7555379

There is a youtube video, "Into the mind of P" that said he and a younger gal moved up to a place "Almost California" near Corvallis, OR.

>>7556582

He wrote an article like that once, so wouldn't be surprised.

https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/05/18/reviews/pynchon-watts.html

>>7560101
desu even w/out pynchon id give anything to be there
fuck my friends are boring

Quality thread right here, please don't ruin it. Thank you.

>>7560780
Oh, like you're ding now?

>>7551901
Are you an English major? How do you like UT?

I'm moving in for the spring semester this week and I'm a little apprehensive. The class on Modernism caught my eye, definitely looking forward to taking it.

>>7560646
>He wrote an article like that once, so wouldn't be surprised.
more edgy clueless anarchist hippie than anything. it would be reasonable to assume he mellowed out with time and became a zionist BLM Hillarycuck

>>7560854
UT is an incredible place and yeah I am an English major of sorts (rhetoric and writing as a pre-law).

As it happens, I took a course on modernism just this last semester, and it was genuinely terrific. Do you have Mia Carter? If so, she is a wonderful teacher and you are in for a great class.

>>7560854
Side note: Check out the Harry Ransom Center! I wish I had found out about that place earlier in my time at UT.

>>7560808
Hey now

>>7559629
>no mention of kazoos

>>7560101

>Sontag

Considering trashing all the authors on that list just for associating with 'white people are the cancer of history' pseudo-intellectual Sontag desu.

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>>7551458
*Ahem*

>>7560101
Would have been a chill dinner without Sontag. Fuck that hack.

>>7560101
Sounds awful. I lost a bit of respect for Gaddis knowing he showed up to these pseudo-high-brow shindigs.

>>7561812
>>7562316
whiteys who should off themselves detected

>>7562325
I don't care about her white people thing. She's not a good critic at all. The worst sort of poseur who weasles their way into academic stardom. She's Paul de Man tier.

Just awful.