new pynchon new pynchon new pynchon

(click on 'tuesday' and fast fwd to 35 mins and available for a week)

"squints from needlework carried past the borderlands of sleep in clockless bad light, women in headscarves, crocheted fascinators, extravagantly flowered hats, no hats at all, women just looking to put their feet up after too many hours of lifting, fetching, walking the jobless avenues, bearing the insults of the day..."

I also enjoyed Frankie Ferdinand saying " 'st los Hund?".

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nXknRDZBs0E/SUaMDxbkY2I/AAAAAAAAChI/X-U3-R60Pz0/s400/pynchon.jpg

So... Vineland Redux?

Publisher Penguin's catalog reveals details about the upcoming book by Thomas Pynchon. As previously reported, it will be a detective novel hitting shelves next summer; the news is the title, "Inherent Vice." And details about the plot:

It’s been awhile since Doc Sportello has seen his ex-girlfriend. Suddenly out of nowhere she shows up with a story about a plot to kidnap a billionaire land developer whom she just happens to be in love with. Easy for her to say. It’s the tail end of the psychedelic sixties in L.A., and Doc knows that “love” is another of those words going around at the moment, like “trip” or “groovy,” except that this one usually leads to trouble. Despite which he soon finds himself drawn into a bizarre tangle of motives and passions whose cast of characters includes surfers, hustlers, dopers and rockers, a murderous loan shark, a tenor sax player working undercover, an ex-con with a swastika tattoo and a fondness for Ethel Merman, and a mysterious entity known as the Golden Fang, which may only be a tax dodge set up by some dentists.

In this lively yarn, Thomas Pynchon, working in an unaccustomed genre, provides a classic illustration of the principle that if you can remember the sixties, you weren’t there . . . or . . . if you were there, then you . . . or, wait, is it . . .

man, i haven't even reread against the day yet

honestly that description is not too promising.

yeah it sounds terrible to me. and definitely reminiscent of vineland which i still am not keen on (maybe i need to re-read it?)

Yep, Vineland much better the second time. I thoroughly enjoyed it the 2nd time, and didn't really like it at all the first time.

vineland is grebt but the first chunk of it (before the explication of the DL & Takeshi plot, mebbe) is total autopynchon zappaishness, maybe kind of sours most first reads

The most striking thing about is that if you had handed me the first 30 pages, I would have staked my life I was reading the opening of the new Elmore Leonard.

apparently, according to amazon uk, people who pre-order inherent vice are likely to at the same time buy the kindly ones by jonathan littell

So the Kindley ones are buying The Kindly Ones?

Never had a clue this was coming out till BBC discussed it tonight. I see now the few posts here, but it has not generated any noise in my hearing till now.

They said 'unaccustomed territory for him'. Um, drug-addled paranoid psychedelic CA eccentrics with daft names in the late 1960s?

Despite which he soon finds himself drawn into a bizarre tangle of motives and passions whose cast of characters includes surfers, hustlers, dopers and rockers, a murderous loan shark, a tenor sax player working undercover, an ex-con with a swastika tattoo and a fondness for Ethel Merman, and a mysterious entity known as the Golden Fang, which may only be a tax dodge set up by some dentists.

I swear, that is practically the least unaccustomed sentence about Pynchon I can imagine.

Haven't read Against The Day, or any Pynchon novel, but Dale Peck's review of AtD might lead me to:

http://dalepeck.com/exclusives/heresy-of-truth.html

it makes me want to unread it tbh

not sure what his point is by the end. he liked the book?

I sorta never considering reading Vineland much but a back-to-back reading with Inherent Vice might be worth the time?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/31/thomas-pynchon-vineland-rereading

Can't really imagine how or why anyone could view Against The Day as his first "great" book. What flaws would one detect in Gravity's Rainbow or Mason & Dixon that are absent in Against The Day?

there's an argument to be made that the earlier books sacrifice readability on the altar of dramatic entropy, whereas AtD is readable and never aims to fall apart

remy did you read ATG?

has anyone here reread 'against the day'? i'm curious what the experience is like because even though it would obviously be worth something—you just can't see every little thing in the right light in a book that big the first time through—i haven't quite felt yet like there's a burning need to reread it. it's like it was too lucid or something.

whereas i've never finished 'mason & dixon' but don't mind rereading the parts i have finished over and over again.

i'm about to start it

missed this bit of news late last year

http://www.filmjunk.com/2010/12/02/p-t-anderson-to-direct-inherent-vice-starring-robert-downey-jr/

However, the book is available right now for those who just can't wait!

wow i'm a little over halfway through against the day and it's killing me how amazing the narrative has become. kit in the mayonnaise factory was a recent favorite.

the part with merle rideout and the photographs coming to life... holy shit

you all saw there's a new pynchon right

yah maybe he'll finally write a good one

I thought this would be about the signed books that hit the market last month:

Well, we have the distinct pleasure to offer four signed books by Pynchon in our April 11 Rare Books Auction #6085, all inscribed to a young man named Michael Urban, who was fighting lymphoma at the time Pynchon signed the books to him in 1986. Urban's mother, Carla, wrote to Pynchon asking him to sign some books, and Pynchon replied that "it would be an honor to help out." We know this because Pynchon's original Typed Letter Signed replying to Carla Urban accompanies the first edition of Gravity's Rainbow, a rare instance of provenance in modern books, and likely the only time a signed book and related letter of provenance of Pynchon's have been sold together.

In this case, the Pynchon TLS is a vital aspect of this book in that it informs a potential buyer that one, Pynchon indeed signed the book himself; and two, the letter tells us WHY Pynchon signed the book: he at one time had a friend with lymphoma, he understood what a struggle it was, and felt the need to help out a boy suffering the same fate.

[ read more » ]

I could find only two auction records for a signed copy of Gravity's Rainbow, the Drapkin copy inscribed to Ken Taub, sold at Christie's in 2005 and a copy sold at Swann in 1999. Each of these copies hammered for over $13,000, each an outstanding result, and indicative of the true rarity to be expected of a copy of this title graced by the pen-hand of its author. But neither of these two copies came with an additional letter, much less one signed by Pynchon himself. And neither, as far as I know, was inscribed to a young man battling cancer.

I think this is the premier copy of Gravity's Rainbow in the world, at least the best one so far revealed to the collecting public, and the book will surely be hotly contested over when our live session commences on Wednesday in New York City. A large part of the desirability is its provenance, which proves it to be a unique copy, tells us why it was signed, and also reveals a level of humanity in Mr. Pynchon not often glimpsed by those who don't know him personally.

The other three books inscribed to Michael Urban are also highly-desirable for the Pynchon inscriptions in them. These include first editions of The Crying of Lot 49 and Slow Learner, and a first Perennial Fiction Library edition of V. For Pynchon fans and collectors, this is a rare treat, as has been living with these books for the last two months. May they all find new homes, and go screaming across the sky to other collections.
http://historical.ha.com/c/newsletter.zx?frame=no&id=3709#collector-e

The letter itself is on ebay here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/American-Novelist-Thomas-Pynchon-Typed-Letter-Signed-/170968902943

yah maybe he'll finally write a good one

― johnny crunch, Tuesday, 8 January 2013 01:15 (8 hours ago)

have at ye! maybe ATD turns to shit in the second half, doubt it will though

you all saw there's a new pynchon right

no?