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/lit/ - Literature

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File: 29 KB, 245x368, 23-thomas-pynchon-2.w245.h368.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
10070892 No.10070892 [Reply] [Original]

My girlfriend's parents are Jewish and she goes home for all the big holidays. This weekend I went with her to see her parents for Rosh Hashana. I've been in New York like... twice, and I'm directionally retarded but they live in what I'm told is the Lower East Side, although I constantly hear New Yorkers accuse other New Yorkers of not knowing where in New York they live so... hey. Grain of salt.

Anyway - Rosh Hashana is sorta boring. I've learned I'm more of a Passover guy anyway. After the holiday is over we've got this day Sunday when we're all lounging, and this is our last day in New York, and like I was emphasizing earlier: I don't know New York. It feels as if I've never been. So I'm like: what the hey. My girlfriend and her mom and reading anyway and her dad is playing online Hearts, so I decided to go for a long walk around.

And guys:

I met Thomas fucking Pynchon.

I'm walking through what appears to still be the Jewborhood and I see this guy at a phone booth of all fucking things - honestly caught my eye namely because he was USING a phone booth and honestly when was the last time you saw anyone do that?

That's when I noticed like: this dude looks EXACTLY like those fucking digital renderings of what Thomas Pynchon looks like now. Grey moustache and everything. Kinda had a gut. I'm like: k those digital things are probably way inaccurate. But then I hear him on the phone and he sounds a lot like he did on The Simpsons, just significantly weaker. Then again, he's not playing a cartoon of himself. Anyway: he's holding a plastic bag. He notices me looking at him and he looks concerned and turns away from me, kinda lifting the hand with the bag to shield his face.

I go over and I tap on his shoulder and desu I'm worried I'm being rude but I'm like: "...Mr. Pynchon?" and he shakes his head. Tries not to make eye contact, is still talking, telling someone something like about food or what temperature an oven should be at (I don't remember too much I wasn't paying attention to that), whatever.

(cont. in thread)

>> No.10070897
File: 255 KB, 940x1015, 1415138805907.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
10070897

If he wasn't dressed operator, it wasn't him

>> No.10070899

I kinda just stand around and eventually he gestures me to a restaurant right across the street, like he's telling me to go in there. But I just kinda hesitate and stick around him and he rolls his eyes and shakes his head and finished up on the phone.

First thing he says to me when he puts the phone down is: "don't say my name out loud. Cmon man, I'll buy you a thing to eat." I was hungry so this worked out but like... how would I say no if I wasn't. He sits me down at this kinda dingy Spanish place (some place with a "2" on the sign which I now recognize as being very New York) and he asks me what I want and buys it for me but doesn't get himself anything. Kinda feels like a weird date desu lol. Anyway - we sit down and he does a like... "I'm here, it's me" gesture.

This has all gone really really fast at this point and like... I was some star struck. Kinda kicking myself because only AFTERWARD did I have any questions for him. I just sorta casually told him I loved his stuff and he nodded. We sat for like... five minutes and chatted a little bit, he kinda avoided questions about his work or else I didn't ask them because I didn't wanna seem like a dork. He made a Donald Trump joke - he's not a Trump supporter, btw, if anyone was curious. I dunno if that's really relevant. Honestly not a lot to report about our conversation, it was mostly smalltalk. I recommended he read the new George Saunders at one point and he told me he has a copy.

He has really exaggerated (avuncular) expressions and he's very smiley and friendly overall. Really normal guy, kinda seems like a friend's grandfather (although he did seem kinda impatient). Honestly was kinda disappointing how normal he actually is. I commented on that and he says he picks up that that's a common impression he has on people who meet him.

He stayed for literally less than five minutes and wasn't even still there when my food was ready. I honestly think he was hoping the free food would keep my planted so I wouldn't up and follow him to where he lives, which desu I considered doing but eventually decided was crossing a line.

I think I ultimately disagree with his whole hermit shtick because it clearly brings him a lot more attention than it does other others. I don't see Don Delillo getting his door banged down. So what gives? He doesn't seem like a hermit really so I don't think it's just like... that he's hiding from the world. In hindsight that whole aspect of his persona seems kinda pretentious now.

Anyway: I met Tom Pynchon. He's real. I harassed him and he bought me a platter at a Spanish restaurant.

Still kinda reeling as this basically JUST happened but yeah.

>> No.10070902

That's great and all, but is he a manlet?

>> No.10070913

Pics or
G
T
F
O

>> No.10070932

>>10070913
honestly I tried to get a covert snap of him when I was "checking my phone" but it's way too blurry

>> No.10070942

>>10070932
>meeting famous author
>"hol on tommy you're boring the shit out of me I'm gonna see what's new on my 4chan app"

>> No.10070945
File: 52 KB, 604x604, IMG_6070.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
10070945

he would be amused to know you used that moment as an excuse to brag about having a girlfriend on /lit/

>> No.10070950

I think I buy it.

>> No.10070959
File: 189 KB, 320x240, Orson Welles Clapping.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
10070959

>>10070892
>>10070899

Doohoohho, it's like My Dinner With Andre except it's really My Failed Luncheon With Pinecone and Pinecone turns out to be the direct opposite of Andre Gregory and not only does he not ramble for two hours but he can't wait to get rid of you

>> No.10070962

>>10070932
gibbe that blurry photo. it can't be much worse than the CNN or disposable camera one

>> No.10070970

>>10070962
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k_TNk2mtTA

Did anyone ever figure out which bystander was him? Or was CNN lying about hiding him among the crowd shots?

>> No.10070974

>>10070899

>He stayed for literally less than five minutes

he smelled ((it)) on you

>> No.10070975

This is a great thread and should be an example to all the wannabe authors on this board.

>> No.10070977

>>10070899

You aren't fooling anyone, Tom.

>> No.10070984

>>10070977
this >>10070945 is him, actually

>> No.10070985

>>10070892
What a story Mark.

>> No.10070998

nice try, Tom.

>> No.10071002

I- I want to believe

>> No.10071012
File: 557 KB, 1080x1920, Screenshot_20170925-204722.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
10071012

>>10070962
aight but it's about as convincing as most photos of bigfoot. I chickened out mid attempt

>> No.10071014

>>10070899
Maybe he avoids the public because he doesn't want random fucking people pestering him when he's trying to make a phone call? How are you this lacking in self-awareness?

>> No.10071019

>>10071014
calm down, Tom. If you really wanted people to not pester you, instead of wanting to project the image of "le mysterious reclusive author," then you would publish in a pseudonym. But you write good books, so I'm not complaining, you earned the right to project that identity regardless

>> No.10071018

confirmed for fake, Salman Rushdie met Pynchon and says she has crazy Einstein hair

>> No.10071021

>>10071018
his hair had definitely seen a combination I don't know what to tell you

>> No.10071024
File: 96 KB, 537x580, pynchon.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
10071024

>>10071012
doesn't look much like this him, he should be wearing glasses and look older, Pynchon is 80 now that guy looks only 60

>> No.10071030

>>10071019
please tell me english is not your first language

>> No.10071031

>>10071018
no scalp is immune to salman's magical realism

>> No.10071040

>>10071031
I don't even believe anything itt but I saw you nigs talking about Rushdie, where should I start with him?

>> No.10071047

>>10070892
I met Don DeLillo on the D train this morning. He was sitting alone in the last car, reading "The Histories" by Herodotus.

>Hi, Mr. DeLillo. I love your work.

He thanked me for the compliment. His voice was quite raspy, and he coughed a bit, as if there were some viscous fluid lodged in his throat.

>If I may, sir, do you have any projects in the works?
>I do, yes.

He didn't seem irritated by my question, and in fact he was almost open to the conversation.

>What about? I enjoyed Zero-K very much.
>Thank you. It is a novel. It is an exploration of the internet's impact on globalization, and how certain groups on the web collude anonymously to obstruct the processes of democracy in America and Western Europe.

I was floored. I stood in silence for several seconds.

>W-w-wow, Mr. DeLillo. I cannot wait to read it.
>Call me Don, he said.

When we got to Fordham Road station he closed his book, smiled, and walked off the train into the fog of commuting bodies.

Can you believe it?

>> No.10071055

>>10071012
man you're not even trying. don't claim you have photos if you don't know how to fake one

>> No.10071059

>>10071047
>Can you believe it?
No, I have read interviews with DeLillo and he is one of those old fashioned guys who still uses a typewriter, he is pretty ignorant about the internet

>> No.10071091
File: 206 KB, 1200x1200, willf.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
10071091

>>10071012

Nigga that Faulkner

>> No.10071125

>>10071091
what I thought, but then I realized: FAULKNER'S dead, and who but Pynchon could this be?

>> No.10071279

>>10070899
>I honestly think he was hoping the free food would keep my planted so I wouldn't up and follow him to where he lives, which desu I considered doing

lmao pinecone...that genius

>> No.10071296

>>10070970
He's the guy in the red hat. 3:21 on your video. Some guy stabilized and enhanced the footage here
https://youtu.be/2rnIaQlFs4c?t=5012

>> No.10071550

>>10071296
this is all bullshit, Pynchon is just a boring scholar who loves history and rock music

>> No.10071577

>>10071091
I recognize this dude from yesterdays featured image on wikipedia. he write anything good?

>> No.10071677

>>10071577

Yes. Try As I Lay Dying, Absalom, Absalom, his short story A Rose for Emily or The Sound and the Fury. He tends to employ this stream-of-consciousness technique that is off-putting to some (he has a tendency to change narrators without making it blatantly clear), so get ready for that gigantic ball of hay to roll your way

>> No.10071895

>>10071296
>height
>6'2

w-what a manlet r-right guys...