Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Pynchon gets frisky

Who combines grandeur, complexity, and high seriousness with vulgar demotic buffoonery? Pynchon and Melville, Twain I suppose, Faulkner sometimes, Walt Whitman. The best of America's writers and part of what makes me glad I grew up here and not someplace else.

In his latest book, Pynchon emphasizes the demotic buffoon and even more so in the promotional clip, below, that he narrates and in the soundtrack selections posted on Amazon, many of which appear to be fictional -- either that or I missed "Soul Gidget" by Meatball Flag during my own journey through 1970.

(Update: Pynchon completely pwns me here... A quick Google reveals that a 'meatball flag' is a warning flag in Formula 1 racing telling "a particular driver to get off the track due to a mechanical problem or other internal hazard in his or her vehicle." Clearly my epicene life has been wasted.)

1 comment:

Christian Lindke said...

Or...you could just start watching Formula One. This is a great time to watch the sport.