Tom Pynchon was quiet and neat and did his homework faithfully

Posted on by Biblioklept

Tom Pynchon was quiet and neat and did his homework faithfully. He went to Mass and confessed, though to what would be a mystery. He got $25 a week spending money and managed it perfectly, did not cut class and always got grades in the high 90’s. He was disappointed not to have been pledged to a fraternity, but he lacked the crude sociability required for that. Besides, he had his own room at Cascadilla, one of the more pleasant dormitories, not tight College Tudor tile but pre-Civil War Victorian, high-ceilinged and muted. Fraternity houses offered neither the charm nor the privacy, and he was, if anything, a very private person.

From Jules Siegel’s March 1977 Playboy profile “Who is Thomas Pynchon… And Why Did He Take Off With My Wife?”  Steven Weisenburger references the article a few times in his Companion, so I gave it a Googlin’.

The first part of the article is posted on the Pynchon-L mailing list; but the latter parts are removed.

I’d be happy to read the whole thing if someone wants to…you know, send it to me. (Thanks!)

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Published by Biblioklept

7 thoughts on “Tom Pynchon was quiet and neat and did his homework faithfully”

  2. Your largest local public library probably has it or can get it via ILL. Ask your librarian about ILL if they don’t have Playboy on Microfilm.

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  3. Wish we were friends about a decade ago. I had all this stuff. The stuff posted now days is mostly rehashed drool of quality first-hand account stuff I used to have. I’ve even lost my great cache of Bookmarks from years past. It’s all mostly in my head. Siegel appears in “A Journey Into the Mind of P”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwXLDvAk5LA This little film used to be so, so rare. I tracked it down and waited days for the download to complete. Whoever posted it on YouTube is a saint. I think it might be your best bet. I believe Siegel’s Woman appears, too. Again, sorry, this information is mostly just locked in my head now days, covered in dust and mostly forgotten about.

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