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December 2006 Launch for Thomas Pynchon's Latest Novel
December 2006 Launch for Thomas Pynchon's Latest Novel
Guardian
The long wait could be over for Thomas Pynchon fans. His first novel in nearly a decade is coming out in the US on December 5.
But the release, as with so much else about the elusive author of contemporary classics such as The Crying of Lot 49 and Gravity's Rainbow, is shrouded in mystery. Since the 1997 release of Mason & Dixon, a characteristically broad novel which followed the travails of two 18th-century astronomers charting the disputed borderline between Pennsylvania and Maryland, new writings by Pynchon have been limited to the occasional review or essay, such as his introduction for a reissue of George Orwell's 1984. He has, of course, continued to shun the media and avoid photographers, though he has turned up twice on "The Simpsons," appearing in one episode with a bag over his head.This much is known about the new book: it's called Against the Day and will be published by Penguin Press. It will run to at least 900 pages.
The author will not be going on a promotional tour.
"That will not be happening, no," Penguin publicist Tracy Locke told the Associated Press on Thursday.
Like JD Salinger (who at one point Pynchon was rumoured to be), the 69-year-old Pynchon is that rare sort of author who inspires fascination by not talking to the press. Alleged Pynchon sightings, like so many UFOs, have been common over the years — his new book has inspired another round of Pynchon-ology on Slate and other Internet sites.
A description of the book — apparently written by Pynchon himself — has been posted on Amazon.com. It offers a tantalising glimpse of the coming work.
"Spanning the period between the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and the years just after world war I, this novel moves from the labour troubles in Colorado to turn-of-the-century New York, to London and Göttingen, Venice and Vienna, the Balkans, Central Asia, Siberia at the time of the mysterious Tunguska Event, Mexico during the revolution, postwar Paris, silent-era Hollywood, and one or two places not strictly speaking on the map at all.
"With a worldwide disaster looming just a few years ahead, it is a time of unrestrained corporate greed, false religiosity, moronic fecklessness, and evil intent in high places. No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred."
It goes on to confirm that "the author is up to his usual business", with the new book set to include many of the elements which have delighted Pynchon's fans since the publication of V in 1963. Once more he has assembled a "sizeable cast" of unlikely characters, with "cameo appearances by Nikola Tesla, Bela Lugosi, and Groucho Marx". Once more there are "strange sexual practices", and "obscure languages" which are spoken "not always idiomatically". Once more characters will "stop what they're doing to sing what are for the most part stupid songs".
The description was at first removed from the site, with Penguin denying any knowledge of its appearance, and subsequently re-posted. According to Amazon spokesman Sean Sundwall, Penguin requested the posting's removal "due to a late change in scheduling on their part".
Locke declined to comment on why the description was taken down, but did reluctantly confirm two details provided by Sundwall, that the book is called Against the Day (no title is listed on Amazon) and that Pynchon indeed wrote the blurb, which warns of more confusion to come.
"Contrary-to-the-fact occurrences occur," Pynchon writes. "If it is not the world, it is what the world might be with a minor adjustment or two. According to some, this is one of the main purposes of fiction. Let the reader decide, let the reader beware. Good luck."
December 2006 Launch for Thomas Pynchon's Latest Novel
Guardian
The long wait could be over for Thomas Pynchon fans. His first novel in nearly a decade is coming out in the US on December 5.
But the release, as with so much else about the elusive author of contemporary classics such as The Crying of Lot 49 and Gravity's Rainbow, is shrouded in mystery. Since the 1997 release of Mason & Dixon, a characteristically broad novel which followed the travails of two 18th-century astronomers charting the disputed borderline between Pennsylvania and Maryland, new writings by Pynchon have been limited to the occasional review or essay, such as his introduction for a reissue of George Orwell's 1984. He has, of course, continued to shun the media and avoid photographers, though he has turned up twice on "The Simpsons," appearing in one episode with a bag over his head.This much is known about the new book: it's called Against the Day and will be published by Penguin Press. It will run to at least 900 pages.
The author will not be going on a promotional tour.
"That will not be happening, no," Penguin publicist Tracy Locke told the Associated Press on Thursday.
Like JD Salinger (who at one point Pynchon was rumoured to be), the 69-year-old Pynchon is that rare sort of author who inspires fascination by not talking to the press. Alleged Pynchon sightings, like so many UFOs, have been common over the years — his new book has inspired another round of Pynchon-ology on Slate and other Internet sites.
A description of the book — apparently written by Pynchon himself — has been posted on Amazon.com. It offers a tantalising glimpse of the coming work.
"Spanning the period between the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and the years just after world war I, this novel moves from the labour troubles in Colorado to turn-of-the-century New York, to London and Göttingen, Venice and Vienna, the Balkans, Central Asia, Siberia at the time of the mysterious Tunguska Event, Mexico during the revolution, postwar Paris, silent-era Hollywood, and one or two places not strictly speaking on the map at all.
"With a worldwide disaster looming just a few years ahead, it is a time of unrestrained corporate greed, false religiosity, moronic fecklessness, and evil intent in high places. No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred."
It goes on to confirm that "the author is up to his usual business", with the new book set to include many of the elements which have delighted Pynchon's fans since the publication of V in 1963. Once more he has assembled a "sizeable cast" of unlikely characters, with "cameo appearances by Nikola Tesla, Bela Lugosi, and Groucho Marx". Once more there are "strange sexual practices", and "obscure languages" which are spoken "not always idiomatically". Once more characters will "stop what they're doing to sing what are for the most part stupid songs".
The description was at first removed from the site, with Penguin denying any knowledge of its appearance, and subsequently re-posted. According to Amazon spokesman Sean Sundwall, Penguin requested the posting's removal "due to a late change in scheduling on their part".
Locke declined to comment on why the description was taken down, but did reluctantly confirm two details provided by Sundwall, that the book is called Against the Day (no title is listed on Amazon) and that Pynchon indeed wrote the blurb, which warns of more confusion to come.
"Contrary-to-the-fact occurrences occur," Pynchon writes. "If it is not the world, it is what the world might be with a minor adjustment or two. According to some, this is one of the main purposes of fiction. Let the reader decide, let the reader beware. Good luck."