Abstract

One of the first signs of life from Salman Rushdie after the fatwa in February, 1989, was his review in January, 1990, of Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland. Rushdie demonstrates here an aesthetic affinity between himself and Pynchon: both are surrealist novelists. Furthermore, the review contains an ironic comment, based on hard-earned experience, on Pynchon's secretiveness: "So he wants a private life and no photographs and nobody to know his home address. I can dig it, I can relate to that (but, like, he should try it when it's compulsory instead of a free-choice option)" (1). What Rushdie appreciates most in Pynchon is his humour, and he notes with satisfaction that Pynchon again has littered his text with small songs – "microchip musical gimmickry" – "unfortunately, unprintable here" (36), in the New York Times Book Review. When the review was republished in Rushdie's collection Imaginary Homelands, one of the songs was, however, printed.

How to Cite:

Bergh, M., (1993) “The Courier's Tragedy: Thomas Pynchon and Salman Rushdie in Tune with Each Other”, Pynchon Notes , 188-192. doi: https://doi.org/10.16995/pn.224