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?)
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18 comments:

  1. Seth Christenfeld10:15 PM

    Dude, it's Ecto-1!

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

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  2. Anonymous10:51 PM

    Seth is faster than I am.

    My attempt:

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

    ...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tropolist11:03 PM

    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.

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  4. Anonymous11:05 PM

    It's real.

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  5. ecs12:27 AM

    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...

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  6. Rosie2:17 AM

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

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  7. Tropolist3:11 AM

    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.

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  8. Anonymous7:32 AM

    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.

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  9. Gilbert Jim9:29 AM

    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).

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  10. Anonymous9:56 AM

    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.

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  11. Tal10:31 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  12. Ian Koviak1:57 PM

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

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  13. Tropolist8:18 PM

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

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  14. ecs9:25 PM

    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

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  15. Matt Walker12:06 AM

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

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  16. Matt Walker12:08 AM

    Or hearse, I mean. One of those.

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  17. x.-9:12 AM

    Long live the Invisible Author. Pinch on.

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  18. Unknown11:21 AM

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

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