--- layout: post status: publish published: true title: Pynchon's Friends in Gravity's Rainbow wordpress_id: 1561 wordpress_url: https://www.martineve.com/?p=1561 date: !binary |- MjAxMS0xMC0yNCAxNDozNjowMiArMDIwMA== date_gmt: !binary |- MjAxMS0xMC0yNCAxNDozNjowMiArMDIwMA== categories: - Literature - Thomas Pynchon - Academia tags: - Pynchon - academia comments: - id: 6575 author: Cyprian Latewood author_email: laurencehopkins@gmail.com author_url: http://twitter.com/#!/lawsandaverages date: !binary |- MjAxMS0xMi0xNCAxMzo0NzowMCArMDEwMA== date_gmt: !binary |- MjAxMS0xMi0xNCAxMzo0NzowMCArMDEwMA== content: The late, Tom ("Hugh") Godolphin (http://plates.library.cornell.edu/donor/DNR00381) taught at Cornell while Pynchon was there. Anyone's guess as to whether he was a friend or he just liked the name. Dr. Shale Schoenmaker's name is possibly from Thelma Schoonmaker who went to Cornell with Pynchon. And of course GR is dedicated to Richard Farina. - id: 6576 author: Martin Paul Eve author_email: martin@martineve.com author_url: https://www.martineve.com date: !binary |- MjAxMS0xMi0xNCAxMzo1NTowMCArMDEwMA== date_gmt: !binary |- MjAxMS0xMi0xNCAxMzo1NTowMCArMDEwMA== content: ! 'Yes, indeed! In addition to other info on http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Godolphin it''s probably also worth considering the variants on Sidney Godolphin, particularly as they pertain to colonial administrators. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Godolphin_%28disambiguation%29 Have you seen or read Pynchon Character Names: A Dictionary?' - id: 6577 author: Cyprian Latewood author_email: laurencehopkins@gmail.com author_url: http://twitter.com/#!/lawsandaverages date: !binary |- MjAxMS0xMi0xNCAxNDowMjowMCArMDEwMA== date_gmt: !binary |- MjAxMS0xMi0xNCAxNDowMjowMCArMDEwMA== content: I've seen it and want it but can't currently justify buying it! I've been trying to find a list of all his characters in one place on the web to no avail so I might have to take the plunge at some point. I'm also assuming from its publication date that it misses such gems as Trillium Fortnight and Sancho Smilax. - id: 6578 author: Martin Paul Eve author_email: martin@martineve.com author_url: https://www.martineve.com date: !binary |- MjAxMS0xMi0xNCAxNDowNjowMCArMDEwMA== date_gmt: !binary |- MjAxMS0xMi0xNCAxNDowNjowMCArMDEwMA== content: Your post prompted me to dive in; I found a used copy on Amazon for £9.99 but, yes, I assume this doesn't go up to Inherent Vice and so will withhold the joys of Adrian Prussia, Fabian Fazzo and Puck Beaverton! - id: 6582 author: Martin Paul Eve author_email: martin@martineve.com author_url: https://www.martineve.com date: !binary |- MjAxMS0xMi0xOSAyMTo1NTowMCArMDEwMA== date_gmt: !binary |- MjAxMS0xMi0xOSAyMTo1NTowMCArMDEwMA== content: For further info, Hurley suggests the metaphysical poet, Sidney Godolphin, as a source. With Schoenmaker, it's certainly more likely to be a reference to the German schönmachen, to make beautiful (again, glossed by Hurley, but pretty sure Grant also picks up on this). The Hurley only goes up to Mason & Dixon. ---

On my latest, but numerically beyond-counting, read-through of Gravity's Rainbow, it suddenly struck me that the Fred and Phyllis referenced on page 711: "(who's that tapping and giggling at your door, Fred and Phyllis?)" are none other than Pynchon's long-standing friends Fred and (the late) Phyllis Gebauer.

While I'd written about Phyllis before, notably in regard to her donation of a rare set of signed copied of Pynchon's works to the UCLA writing programme to fund scholarships, I also wondered if there were other of Pynchon's friends making it into his writing. Others certainly think so. Disappointingly, there is no source for this information cited, but Gene Bluestein in Anglish/Yinglish: Yiddish in American Life and Literature (U of Nebraska Press, 1998), p. 86 claims that Steve Edelman is also the name of one of Pynchon's acquaintances: “here, as elsewhere, Pynchon uses the name of a friend”. Whether this is hearsay remains unconfirmed.

Of course, this will remain a topic of fascination; Pynchon's reluctance to let any details of his personal life into the open (and, hey, that's entirely his right) while simultaneously writing novels in which quests (albeit quests which disintegrate) are of primary significance almost invites such speculation.