Since 1963, when Pynchon's first novel, 'V.', came out, the writer—widely considered America's most important novelist since World War II—has become an almost mythical figure, a kind of cross between the Nutty Professor (Jerry Lewis's) and Caine in 'Kung Fu'. There has never been a confirmed Pynchon sighting published before this one, but there have been plenty of wild theories about his whereabouts, advanced by gonzo fans and serious scholars. People have said that Thomas Pynchon is 'really' J. D. Salinger; that he travels around by bus, crisscrossing the country and leaving little clues as to his identity; that he's posed as a literary-minded bag lady who writes letters to an obscure Northern California newspaper (there's a new book out about that, 'The Letters of Wanda Tinasky'). There was even a rumor, hotly debated on the Pynchon Websites on the Internet, that Thomas Pynchon was the Unabomber. Pynchon showed up at an apple-picking fest in Northern California, calling himself Tom Pinecone; Pynchon was walking the Mason-Dixon line, researching his next book, said to be a 'big one' (it's coming out, finally, in the spring of 1997, according to Pynchon's editor at Henry Holt). Sal Ivone, managing editor of Weekly World News—the tabloid that told the world that 'Elvis is alive' —reports, 'In the first week of October, Weekly World News recorded three Elvis sightings, two Bat Boy sightings, one Bigfoot encounter, and, amazingly, one for Thomas Pynchon. We haven't checked it out because it sounds too far-fetched to us.'
pixelskylines
tangentwithtanner
jimmyeatworldofficial
germansingergirl
areudirty
