Thomas Pynchon's Reclusive Exclusive

He may be best-known (and dramatized) for dodging public recognition, but lately Thomas Pynchon is--by his own efforts--practically ubiquitous. A video trailer for Inherent Vice released on YouTube last week (see below) raised eager speculation about whether or not Pynchon narrated it himself, and today the Wall Street Journal (after some detective-fiction-worthy sleuthing) spilled the beans: yup, it's him. (Wouldn't you kill to hear the outtakes?) Today we've got another kind of Pynchon sighting: a 42-track playlist inspired by the novel's late 60s-early 70s Southern California surf-pop-psychedelia that even features a performance by main character Larry "Doc" Sportello. The links below take you to MP3 downloads you can sample, full albums, or artist pages, and in some cases they may inspire you to do a little detective work of your own. (Jacket Copy scooped this right up, and we enjoyed seeing a comment posted by a member of the Thomas Pynchon wiki--now updated with the list of songs the author provided to us, plus more tracks that appear in the course of the novel.) --Anne

• "Bamboo" by Johnny and the Hurricanes
• "Bang Bang" by The Bonzo Dog Band
• Bootleg Tape by Elephant's Memory
• "Can't Buy Me Love" by The Beatles
• "Desafinado" by Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto, with Charlie Byrd
• Elusive Butterfly by Bob Lind
• "Fly Me to the Moon" by Frank Sinatra
• "Full Moon in Pisces" performed by Lark
• "God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys
• The Greatest Hits of Tommy James and The Shondells
• "Happy Trails to You" by Roy Rogers
• "Help Me, Rhonda" by The Beach Boys
• "Here Come the Hodads" by The Marketts
• "The Ice Caps" by Tiny Tim
• "Interstellar Overdrive" by Pink Floyd
• "It Never Entered My Mind" by Andrea Marcovicci
• "Just the Lasagna (Semi-Bossa Nova)" by Carmine & the Cal-Zones
• "Long Trip Out" by Spotted Dick
• "Motion by the Ocean" by The Boards
• "People Are Strange (When You're a Stranger)" by The Doors
• "Pipeline" by The Chantays
• "Quentin's Theme" (Theme Song from "Dark Shadows") performed by Charles Randolph Grean Sounde
• Rembetissa by Roza Eskenazi
• "Repossess Man" by Droolin' Floyd Womack
• "Skyful of Hearts" performed by Larry "Doc" Sportello
• "Something Happened to Me Yesterday" by The Rolling Stones
• "Something in the Air" by Thunderclap Newman
• "Soul Gidget" by Meatball Flag
• "Stranger in Love" performed by The Spaniels
• "Sugar Sugar" by The Archies
• "Super Market" by Fapardokly
• "Surfin' Bird" by The Trashmen
• "Telstar" by The Tornados
• "Tequila" by The Champs
• Theme Song from "The Big Valley" performed by Beer
• "There's No Business Like Show Business" by Ethel Merman
• Vincebus Eruptum by Blue Cheer
• "Volare" by Domenico Modugno
• "Wabash Cannonball" by Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans
• "Wipeout" by The Surfaris
• "Wouldn't It Be Nice" by The Beach Boys
• "Yummy Yummy Yummy" performed by Ohio Express

Comments

[jeux d action on September 24, 2009 at 02:38 AM]

I never really found him appealing for strong narrative, but more for the poetry of his words and his strange and sometimes lovely visions. I'll try the new work, but I wonder if by focusing more on a story he will lose some of what makes him appealing. I really enjoyed Vineland though, so who knows (ninjas, conspiracy, purgatory for Italian grandmothers that can't cook...)

The article was interesting, but I the conventional view of what makes "great literature" repelled me a little. Pynchon is important in proportion to how much his work is read and enjoyed