{"id":195,"date":"2006-11-23T02:13:51","date_gmt":"2006-11-23T10:13:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/godammit.com\/2006\/11\/23\/my-pynchon-secret\/"},"modified":"2007-05-27T20:04:18","modified_gmt":"2007-05-28T04:04:18","slug":"my-pynchon-secret","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/godammit.com\/my-pynchon-secret\/","title":{"rendered":"I Am Thomas Pynchon!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I still value my privacy and I\u2019m going right back into seclusion after I finish this announcement. I don\u2019t mind getting text messages on occasion from J.D. Salinger, but even he can overdo the small talk.<\/p>\n

My new book \u201cAgainst the Day”<\/a> is more than 1,000 pages long but doesn\u2019t even begin to satisfy my ambition to discuss calculus, racism, theology, cocaine, fetishism, philosophy, coal-mining, pop music, corporate evil, time travel,\u2026well, you know, all that shit that\u2019s been labeled historiographical metafiction. I prefer \u201cphantasmagoria.”<\/p>\n

You might not be ready to read my new book if you can\u2019t keep hundreds of characters and events that don\u2019t lead anywhere secure in your short-term memory bank. It might be harder to read than it was to write, actually. All I had to do was throw together a ton of arcane references to real incidents, mix \u2018em up with some silly named characters like Deuce Kindred and Alonzo Meatman. ( I like to have a little fun with names.) At one point, I go off on mayonnaise, and have some postmodern fun with making a big deal out of it. Get it, mayonnaise?!<\/p>\n

Well, I\u2019m going back into seclusion until further notice. You can read an exhausting review<\/a> of my new book in the New Yorker, who both liked and didn\u2019t like it. Being Thomas Pynchon, I could give a shit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"