Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-07T03:43:20.689Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 39 - Material Readings

from Part III - Approaches and Readings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2019

Inger H. Dalsgaard
Affiliation:
Aarhus Universitet, Denmark
Get access

Summary

In a 1973 letter to book reviewer Bruce Allen, Thomas Pynchon reflects on the simultaneous publication of the first edition of Gravity’s Rainbow (1973) in two different versions: a moderately priced paperback and a very expensive hardcover. Somewhat bitterly he writes that “nobody at Viking pays any attention to me – my feeling was that the whole fucking thing ought to be paperback. The idea was to get it to people who can’t afford $15. But They had their own ideas.” Unlike most other authors, Pynchon famously abstains from participating in the marketing of his work, but his comments to Allen indicate that the manner in which his books are presented to the public is important to him, and this is confirmed by additional evidence. In a 1962 letter to Faith Sale, he expresses his dissatisfaction with the dust jacket for V. (1963), and the designer of the dust jacket for Mason & Dixon (1997), Raquel Jaramillo, has revealed that he “worked closely with her on the design of the jacket, being very fussy about the look of the type.”

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×