Friday, July 21, 2006

THOMAS WHO?

Thomas Pynchon has a new book coming out soon. I've read a few books by Pynchon, but I've really been able to 'get' him; I keep thinking that he's one of those writers that's waiting for me, sometime down the line, when I'm smarter, more sophisticated, more willing to go where his writing leads.

But I like the fact that nobody knows jackshit about him. He's been one of the leading lights of American literature over the past forty years or so, but doesn't give interviews. Doesn't have his picture taken. Doesn't create a media-driven image of himself and then complain, constantly, when the media distorts who he 'really' is.

Apparently he's voiced a version of himself on The Simpsons a few times recently, complete with a paper bag over his face to hide his identity. That's funny. It shows he's aware of his status as an isolated introvert, but can still poke fun at it. (And still remain an isolated introvert.)

He's a writer who truly, completely allows his words speak for themselves.

In this confessional day and age, that's almost a revolutionary idea: to let a book be a book, and nothing but. Nothing more.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

HAHA I thought I was the only one who read Pynchon. I do like, albeit not wholly "get", his style - which to be seems to be the love child of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Salinger and a very naiive Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn...plus a little something more!
that's just my take.
i don't watch the simpsons so I don't know the reference, but I can appreciate his ability to know his strengths and weaknesses, and in an unseeming way, almost capitalize on them! ;)

Anonymous said...

Hi Scott

While I haven't read Pynchon I have heard of him. I do envy him however. Being able to be recognized with a bag over your head and still not be known is a feat I would like to achieve. Anonimity and a feeling of belonging/admiration seem mutually exclusive, but a goal to which many besides Pynchon would aspire.

Love Uncle L