Thomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]

Inherent Vice Title

2009-08-18T21:46:20Z

Binkydoormat:

Like all Pynchon titles, it's hard to know where to start, trying to gather up all the possible meanings and resonances. But, for openers:

*Inherent Vice - as a legal term: "A loss caused by the inherent nature of the thing insured and not the result of a casualty or external cause." [http://www.lectlaw.com/def/i043.htm 'Lectric Law Library]

*Inherent Vice - as it relates to classic Pynchon themes: compare with entropy. Everything declines. Everything falls apart. Everything goes wrong.

*Inherent Vice - as an analogy for the Christian doctrine of Original sin, which says that everyone is born sinful [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_sin]. Indeed this is what Doc initially believes the phrase to mean when he wonders, "Is that like original sin?" (IV 351). This theological interpretation raises the question, 'If vice is inherent, where do we locate virtue?'[http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jul/26/pynchon-churchwell-inherent-vice]

*Inherent Vice - as a general term: "A defect or cause of loss arising out of the material itself, such as the acid content in paper which will eventually destroy the paper." [http://www.encyclo.co.uk/define/Inherent%20Vice Online Encyclopedia uk defitition]
**The bit about paper in the above definition is particularly apt, when we consider all the stuff in Gravity's Rainbow about Slothrop (Pynchon'n's?) ancestors, paper mills, etc. 'Money, shit, and The Word' indeed.

*There's also the connections between this book and Vineland to factor in. That earlier book's theme (or one of them) was, reductively, 'what went wrong?', i.e. how did the 'revolutions' of the Sixties fail? Was it something inherent to the spirit of those times, and/or inherent to human nature? Why is it that some people are attracted to Fascism?
**A further political dimension which dovetails nicely with the 'flaws that let us fall for Fascism' question - the phrase was used by Winston Churchill: "The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent vice of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."

*Winston Churchill: "The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent vice of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries" (source?).

*From his New Yorker review of the novel, Louis Menand's take on Pynchon's title: "The title is a term in maritime law (a specialty of one of the minor characters)[Sauncho Smilax]. It refers to the quality of things that makes them difficult to insure: if you have eggs in your cargo, a normal policy will not cover their breaking. Getting broken is in the nature of being an egg. The novel gives the concept some low-level metaphysical play--original sin is an obvious analogy--but, apart from this and a death-and-resurrection motic involving a saxophonist in a surf-rock band, 'Inherent Vice' does not appear to be a Pynchonian palimpsest of semi-obscure allusions. (I could be missing something, of course. I could be missing everything)." from "Soft-Boiled: Pynchon's Stoned Detective." The New Yorker. 3 August 2009, 74-5.

Inherent Vice Title

2009-08-18T21:45:32Z

Binkydoormat:

Like all Pynchon titles, it's hard to know where to start, trying to gather up all the possible meanings and resonances. But, for openers:

*Inherent Vice - as a legal term: "A loss caused by the inherent nature of the thing insured and not the result of a casualty or external cause." [http://www.lectlaw.com/def/i043.htm 'Lectric Law Library]

*Inherent Vice - as it relates to classic Pynchon themes: compare with entropy. Everything declines. Everything falls apart. Everything goes wrong.

*Inherent Vice - as an analogy for the Christian doctrine of Original sin, which says that everyone is born sinful [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_sin]. Indeed this is what Doc initially believes the phrase to mean when he wonders, "Is that like original sin?" (IV 351). This theological interpretation raises the question, 'If vice is inherent, where do we locate virtue?'[http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jul/26/pynchon-churchwell-inherent-vice]

*Inherent Vice - as a general term: "A defect or cause of loss arising out of the material itself, such as the acid content in paper which will eventually destroy the paper." [http://www.encyclo.co.uk/define/Inherent%20Vice Online Encyclopedia uk defitition]
**The bit about paper in the above definition is particularly apt, when we consider all the stuff in Gravity's Rainbow about Slothrop (Pynchon'n's?) ancestors, paper mills, etc. 'Money, shit, and The Word' indeed.

*There's also the connections between this book and Vineland to factor in. That earlier book's theme (or one of them) was, reductively, 'what went wrong?', i.e. how did the 'revolutions' of the Sixties fail? Was it something inherent to the spirit of those times, and/or inherent to human nature? Why is it that some people are attracted to Fascism?
**A further political dimension which dovetails nicely with the 'flaws that let us fall for Fascism' question - the phrase was used by Winston Churchill: "The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent vice of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."

*Winston Churchill: "The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent vice of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries" (source?).

*From his New Yorker review of the novel, Louis Menand's take on Pynchon's title: "The title is a term in maritime law (a specialty of one of the minor characters)[Sauncho Smilax]. It refers to the quality of things that makes them difficult to insure: if you have eggs in your cargo, a normal policy will not cover their breaking. Getting broken is in the nature of being an egg. The novel gives the concept some low-level metaphysical play--original sin is an obvious analogy--but, apart from this and a death-and-resurrection motic involving a saxophonist in a surf-rock band, "Inherent Vice" does not appear to be a Pynchonian palimpsest of semi-obscure allusions. (I could be missing something, of course. I could be missing everything)." from "Soft-Boiled: Pynchon's Stoned Detective." The New Yorker. 3 August 2009, 74-5.

Inherent Vice Title

2009-08-18T21:44:15Z

Binkydoormat:

Like all Pynchon titles, it's hard to know where to start, trying to gather up all the possible meanings and resonances. But, for openers:

*Inherent Vice - as a legal term: "A loss caused by the inherent nature of the thing insured and not the result of a casualty or external cause." [http://www.lectlaw.com/def/i043.htm 'Lectric Law Library]

*Inherent Vice - as it relates to classic Pynchon themes: compare with entropy. Everything declines. Everything falls apart. Everything goes wrong.

*Inherent Vice - as an analogy for the Christian doctrine of Original sin, which says that everyone is born sinful [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_sin]. Indeed this is what Doc initially believes the phrase to mean when he wonders, "Is that like original sin?" (IV 351). This theological interpretation raises the question, 'If vice is inherent, where do we locate virtue?'[http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jul/26/pynchon-churchwell-inherent-vice]

*Inherent Vice - as a general term: "A defect or cause of loss arising out of the material itself, such as the acid content in paper which will eventually destroy the paper." [http://www.encyclo.co.uk/define/Inherent%20Vice Online Encyclopedia uk defitition]
**The bit about paper in the above definition is particularly apt, when we consider all the stuff in Gravity's Rainbow about Slothrop (Pynchon'n's?) ancestors, paper mills, etc. 'Money, shit, and The Word' indeed.

*There's also the connections between this book and Vineland to factor in. That earlier book's theme (or one of them) was, reductively, 'what went wrong?', i.e. how did the 'revolutions' of the Sixties fail? Was it something inherent to the spirit of those times, and/or inherent to human nature? Why is it that some people are attracted to Fascism?
**A further political dimension which dovetails nicely with the 'flaws that let us fall for Fascism' question - the phrase was used by Winston Churchill: "The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent vice of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."

*Winston Churchill: "The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent vice of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries" (source?).

*Louis Menand's take on the title from the New Yorker review: "The title is a term in maritime law (a specialty of one of the minor characters)[Sauncho Smilax]. It refers to the quality of things that makes them difficult to insure: if you have eggs in your cargo, a normal policy will not cover their breaking. Getting broken is in the nature of being an egg. The novel gives the concept some low-level metaphysical play--original sin is an obvious analogy--but, apart from this and a death-and-resurrection motic involving a saxophonist in a surf-rock band, "Inherent Vice" does not appear to be a Pynchonian palimpsest of semi-obscure allusions. (I could be missing something, of course. I could be missing everything)." from "Soft-Boiled: Pynchon's Stoned Detective." The New Yorker. 3 August 2009, 74-5.

Inherent Vice cover analysis

2009-08-18T20:09:07Z

Binkydoormat: /* Cover Art */

==Cover Art==

The cover illustration is by Maui artist Darshan Zenith (see his [http://www.darshanzenith.com/ Official site]). The piece is called "Eternal Summer," and subtitled, "A 'Retired' Caddy Hearse Greets Daybreak at a Beach Surf Shop." Prints of the painting can be purchased [http://www.cruiserart.com/1959_hawaiian-surf-surfer-surfing-art.htm here]. The 1959 Cadillac Hearse is parked in front of the "Endless Summer Surf Shop" (namechecking the Beach Boys Greatest Hits collection and Bruce Brown's 1966 surfing documentary!).

The way Darshan creates his pieces is quite interesting. He paints only the background of the image (the sky, sea, palm trees &c.) and scans the painting into his computer. He then uses 1:18-scale metal diecast models of the cars, photographed against a white background, and loads the digital photo into the computer. From this point on, it's all Photoshop, integrating the car image into the background painting, and then creating the details with Photoshop tools. So the final work is a digital creation, and there is no original painting of the work. I was told that the basic structure of the surf shack was also part of the original painting for the Caddy Hearse piece. Also, Darshan apparently had the 1966 Bruce Brown film in mind when naming the shack "Endless Summer."

Apparently, Pynchon was searching the Web for the right image for the Inherent Vice cover, found the [http://www.cruiserart.com/ Cruiser Art website] and the "Caddy Hearse" piece, and wanted to use it. [source?] Penguin contacted Cruiser Art and obtained the appropriate permissions.

Update: Cruiser Art sent along a link to the same model they used for the painting, now on [http://cgi.ebay.com/1959-CADILLAC-CROWN-ROYAL-LIMOSINE-STYLE-HEARSE-1-18_W0QQitemZ200282336708QQcmdZViewItemQQptZDiecast_Vehicles?hash=item200282336708&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50#ht_5692wt_941/ sale at ebay]. It's a 1959 Cadillac Crown Royal Limousine Style Hearse. Steve Rummel, Darshan's business partner, adds: "We painted the landau top white. Notice it comes complete with a casket, but we couldn't figure any way to use it."

==Cover Design==
The book jacket design is by Darren Haggar and Tal Goretsky. The font used in the neon title is called [http://new.myfonts.com/fonts/bitstream/drescher-grotesk-bt/ Drescher Grotesk].

==Cover Analysis and Interpretation==

*This artist with the Pynchonian name, Darshan Zenith, believes his image depicts daybreak. Which it certainly could if that's a Hawaiian surf shop. But once the image is transposed to represent a surf shop somewhere near Gordita Beach & the alternate universe of ''Inherent Vice'', the "sunrise" must become a sunset, since SoCal faces west. So when DZ's image becomes attached to Pynchon's narrative its meaning changes. Sunset's of course more appropriate for the mood of Pynchon's Noir anyway, since it's pretty much the end of an era that's occurring as Doc pursues his investigations....

*In light of the excellent distinction made above between Hawaii sunrise and California sunset, the cover seems to contribute meaningfully to the novel's [[Lemuria]] strand (pages 108-109, especially, where the narrator recounts an acid trip Doc once had in which he imagined Lemuria and Atlantis as embattled, mythic poles of cultural energy), which finds the North American continent caught between "Western" Atlantis and "Eastern" Lemuria.

==Earlier cover design drafts==
[[File:IVcoverpenguincatalog.jpg|thumb|200px|center|From Penguin's Summer 2009 catalog]]

[[File:IVcoverdraft.jpg|thumb|200px|center|A later draft]]

[[File:IVcoverdraftnearfinal.jpg|thumb|200px|center|Posted on Amazon prior to publication, a bit brighter than the final cover and missing the text "A Novel" on the left]]

Inherent Vice cover analysis

2009-08-18T20:07:14Z

Binkydoormat: /* Cover Analysis and Interpretation */

==Cover Art==

The cover illustration is by Maui artist Darshan Zenith (see his [http://www.darshanzenith.com/ Official site]). The piece is called "Eternal Summer," and subtitled, "A 'Retired' Caddy Hearse Greets Daybreak at a Beach Surf Shop." Prints of the painting can be purchased [http://www.cruiserart.com/1959_hawaiian-surf-surfer-surfing-art.htm here]. The 1959 Cadillac Hearse is parked in front of the "Endless Summer Surf Shop" (namechecking the Beach Boys Greatest Hits collection and Bruce Brown's 1966 surfing documentary!).

The way Darshan creates his pieces is quite interesting. He paints only the background of the image (the sky, sea, palm trees &c.) and scans the painting into his computer. He then uses 1:18-scale metal diecast models of the cars, photographed against a white background, and loads the digital photo into the computer. From this point on, it's all Photoshop, integrating the car image into the background painting, and then creating the details with Photoshop tools. So the final work is a digital creation, and there is no original painting of the work. I was told that the basic structure of the surf shack was also part of the original painting for the Caddy Hearse piece. Also, Darshan apparently had the 1966 Bruce Brown film in mind when naming the shack "Endless Summer."

Apparently, Pynchon was searching the Web for the right image for the Inherent Vice cover, found the [http://www.cruiserart.com/ Cruiser Art website] and the "Caddy Hearse" piece, and wanted to use it. [source?] Penguin contacted Cruiser Art and obtained the appropriate permissions.

Update: Cruiser Art sent along a link to the same model they used for the painting, now on [http://cgi.ebay.com/1959-CADILLAC-CROWN-ROYAL-LIMOSINE-STYLE-HEARSE-
1-18_W0QQitemZ200282336708QQcmdZViewItemQQptZDiecast_Vehicles?hash=item200282336708&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50#ht_5692wt_941/ sale at ebay]. It's a 1959 Cadillac Crown Royal Limousine Style Hearse. Steve Rummel, Darshan's business partner, adds: "We painted the landau top white. Notice it comes complete with a casket, but we couldn't figure any way to use it."

==Cover Design==
The book jacket design is by Darren Haggar and Tal Goretsky. The font used in the neon title is called [http://new.myfonts.com/fonts/bitstream/drescher-grotesk-bt/ Drescher Grotesk].

==Cover Analysis and Interpretation==

*This artist with the Pynchonian name, Darshan Zenith, believes his image depicts daybreak. Which it certainly could if that's a Hawaiian surf shop. But once the image is transposed to represent a surf shop somewhere near Gordita Beach & the alternate universe of ''Inherent Vice'', the "sunrise" must become a sunset, since SoCal faces west. So when DZ's image becomes attached to Pynchon's narrative its meaning changes. Sunset's of course more appropriate for the mood of Pynchon's Noir anyway, since it's pretty much the end of an era that's occurring as Doc pursues his investigations....

*In light of the excellent distinction made above between Hawaii sunrise and California sunset, the cover seems to contribute meaningfully to the novel's [[Lemuria]] strand (pages 108-109, especially, where the narrator recounts an acid trip Doc once had in which he imagined Lemuria and Atlantis as embattled, mythic poles of cultural energy), which finds the North American continent caught between "Western" Atlantis and "Eastern" Lemuria.

==Earlier cover design drafts==
[[File:IVcoverpenguincatalog.jpg|thumb|200px|center|From Penguin's Summer 2009 catalog]]

[[File:IVcoverdraft.jpg|thumb|200px|center|A later draft]]

[[File:IVcoverdraftnearfinal.jpg|thumb|200px|center|Posted on Amazon prior to publication, a bit brighter than the final cover and missing the text "A Novel" on the left]]

Inherent Vice cover analysis

2009-08-18T19:54:30Z

Binkydoormat:

==Cover Art==

The cover illustration is by Maui artist Darshan Zenith (see his [http://www.darshanzenith.com/ Official site]). The piece is called "Eternal Summer," and subtitled, "A 'Retired' Caddy Hearse Greets Daybreak at a Beach Surf Shop." Prints of the painting can be purchased [http://www.cruiserart.com/1959_hawaiian-surf-surfer-surfing-art.htm here]. The 1959 Cadillac Hearse is parked in front of the "Endless Summer Surf Shop" (namechecking the Beach Boys Greatest Hits collection and Bruce Brown's 1966 surfing documentary!).

The way Darshan creates his pieces is quite interesting. He paints only the background of the image (the sky, sea, palm trees &c.) and scans the painting into his computer. He then uses 1:18-scale metal diecast models of the cars, photographed against a white background, and loads the digital photo into the computer. From this point on, it's all Photoshop, integrating the car image into the background painting, and then creating the details with Photoshop tools. So the final work is a digital creation, and there is no original painting of the work. I was told that the basic structure of the surf shack was also part of the original painting for the Caddy Hearse piece. Also, Darshan apparently had the 1966 Bruce Brown film in mind when naming the shack "Endless Summer."

Apparently, Pynchon was searching the Web for the right image for the Inherent Vice cover, found the [http://www.cruiserart.com/ Cruiser Art website] and the "Caddy Hearse" piece, and wanted to use it. [source?] Penguin contacted Cruiser Art and obtained the appropriate permissions.

Update: Cruiser Art sent along a link to the same model they used for the painting, now on [http://cgi.ebay.com/1959-CADILLAC-CROWN-ROYAL-LIMOSINE-STYLE-HEARSE-
1-18_W0QQitemZ200282336708QQcmdZViewItemQQptZDiecast_Vehicles?hash=item200282336708&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50#ht_5692wt_941/ sale at ebay]. It's a 1959 Cadillac Crown Royal Limousine Style Hearse. Steve Rummel, Darshan's business partner, adds: "We painted the landau top white. Notice it comes complete with a casket, but we couldn't figure any way to use it."

==Cover Design==
The book jacket design is by Darren Haggar and Tal Goretsky. The font used in the neon title is called [http://new.myfonts.com/fonts/bitstream/drescher-grotesk-bt/ Drescher Grotesk].

==Cover Analysis and Interpretation==

A different comment on the cover: this artist with the Pynchonian name, Darshan Zenith, believes his image depicts daybreak. Which it certainly could if that's a Hawaiian surf shop. But once the image is transposed to represent a surf shop somewhere near Gordita Beach & the alternate universe of ''Inherent Vice'', the "sunrise" must become a sunset, since SoCal faces west. So when DZ's image becomes attached to Pynchon's narrative its meaning changes. Sunset's of course more appropriate for the mood of Pynchon's Noir anyway, since it's pretty much the end of an era that's occurring as Doc pursues his investigations....

==Earlier cover design drafts==
[[File:IVcoverpenguincatalog.jpg|thumb|200px|center|From Penguin's Summer 2009 catalog]]

[[File:IVcoverdraft.jpg|thumb|200px|center|A later draft]]

[[File:IVcoverdraftnearfinal.jpg|thumb|200px|center|Posted on Amazon prior to publication, a bit brighter than the final cover and missing the text "A Novel" on the left]]