A few days late, but this is a quick post to highlight my statements, and photograph, on the Guardian books site. The piece was to highlight events pertaining to reading/celebrating authors in public, which linked in with the Pynchon in Public Day event which I organized last weekend. The piece has been widely circulated and I'm grateful for all the exposure!
Here's a brief excerpt:
"The rarity of seeing someone reading Pynchon in public prompted me to break tube etiquette and say hello, albeit briefly given that I had to get off," says Eve. "Anyway, I tweeted about the occurrence and 'John Dee' (@Dystopia2009) got in touch and proposed that, on Pynchon's birthday, we could hold a Pynchon in Public day. The appeal lies in the author's stance on privacy; a man who has evaded the media gaze for 50 years while writing some of the most highly regarded, and most controversial, American prose couldn't be asked to come out in public. On the other hand, his devoted following could wheel out the symbols of paranoia that pervade his books and celebrate what's in the texts. Pynchon is worth it for the revolution he effected for American fiction . . . primarily a revolution that has reintroduced a critical Left stance into the landscape, even if this wasn't entirely recognised at the time."
I'd also like to further that by stating that I am now starting to post accounts and pictures of people's Pynchon in Public Day efforts to the official site; if you have any entries, please email me!