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Monday, December 15, 2008

Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice

Via a number of people on Twitter, here's the updated cover for Thomas Pynchon's forthcoming Inherent Vice. Conversational Reading's got some info; go to ThomasPynchon.com to see an earlier version.


This one obviously bears watching. I'm not ready to call shenanigans on this. Are you? (Darren Haggar, are you out there?)

18 comments:

Seth Christenfeld said...

Dude, it's Ecto-1!

(Okay, not really, but that sure does look like the car from Ghostbusters.

Anonymous said...

Seth is faster than I am.

My attempt:

If you aren't ready to call shenanigans, who're you gonna call?

...

Tropolist said...

Oh my god. The over is godawful, but thinking about a new Pynchon novel makes me want to squeal. This must be how Stephanie Meyer fans feel all the time.

Anonymous said...

It's real.

ecs said...

I have no idea what the content is, but I don't understand why "the over [sic] is godawful [sic]"? It certainly captures a mood and the type is engaging.

I'm enjoying the surf/tiki vibe and have a feeling it's about to make a weird resurgence. That whole genre smacks of hyper-real bizarrenes...

Rosie said...

This cover doesn't work for me...
Next one!

Tropolist said...

ecs:

Sorry about the 'over'. There is something wrong with my 'c' key (it took three attempts to type it just then). As for 'godawful', it is a perfectly acceptable word (as is its hyphenated variant) according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

As for your actual point, I simply meant that the cover reminds me of the kind of cheap, sensational pulp one picks up in airports. Compared to the recent and wonderful redesign of Gravity's Rainbow (http://a3.vox.com/6a00bf76d0a9b7438300d41445d8c33c7f-500pi) this cover just looks pedestrian.

Anonymous said...

the overall feel is such a departure from recent designs for Thomas Pynchon covers. though not as far away from this Penguin paperback edition of Against the Day.

Gilbert Jim said...

I think we're going to find this cover absolutely suits the interior--if Pynchon has, as reported, written a neo-noir "detective novel" (and likely in the same sense as M&D being a "historical novel"), then this cover art/design is appropriate and evocative. The only further step would be a Hard Case Crime kind of painting (which might take the joke too far).

Anonymous said...

Looks like the cover of one of Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville collections. I don't think I'll be reading anything that causes me to get "Cheeseburger in Paradise" stuck in my head, thanks.

Tal said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ian Koviak said...

Seth, that is ECTO-1...
Fun cover I guess.

Tropolist said...

Oh wow, I just noticed that the palm trees above the surf shop just cut off. Surely that can't be a professional job.

ecs said...

Tropolist, apologies for seeming harshly critical of your grammar, that wasn't intended!

I'll agree it's nothing fantastic, but there is something coming across with the imagery that is haunting and surf/pulpy at the same time, and I do think that makes it engaging.mized

Matt Walker said...

The Ghostbusters car was an old ambulance. That's what old ambulances look like.

Matt Walker said...

Or hearse, I mean. One of those.

x.- said...

Long live the Invisible Author. Pinch on.

Unknown said...

I agree with Gilbert. It's supposed to be a noir piece set in the 60's.