It took three pages, but then he made it, and it was good (enough for government work):
He walked her down the hill to where she was parked. Weeknights out here weren't too different from weekends, so this part of town was already all ahoot with funseekers, drinkers and surfers screaming in the alleys, dopers out on food errands, flatland guys in for a night of hustling stewardesses, flatland ladies with all-too-grounded day jobs hoping to be mistaken for stewardesses. Uphill and invisible, traffic out on the boulevard to and from the freeway uttered tuneful exhaust phrases which went echoing out to sea, where the crews of oil tankers sliding along, hearing them, could have figured it for wildlife taking care of nighttime business on an exotic coast. (4)
Of course, I have suggestions about how to make this more Pynchonian—paragraph break before "[u]phill and invisibile"; eliminate the comma after "out to seas"; remove the indefinite article before and pluralize "exotic coast"—but for the most part, this is pure unforced transport, unlike Against the Day, which felt like Pynchon doing his damnedest Pynchon after having forgotten that he was, in fact, himself and could don the pig-suit and write:
Under a cold umbrella of naked light bulbs are gathered a crowd of Army personnel, American sailors, NAAFI girls, and German frauleins. Fraternizing, every last one of them, shamefully, amid noise which becomes, as Muffage and Spontoon reach the edge of the gathering, a song, at whose center, with a good snootful, each arm circling a smiling and disheveled young tootsie, ruddy face under these lights gone an apopletic mauve, and leading the glee, is the same General Wivern they last saw in Pointsman's office back at Twelfth House. From a tank car whose contents, ethanol, 75% solution, are announced in stark white stenciling along the side, spigots protrude here and there, under which an incredible number of mess cups, china mugs, coffeepots, wastebaskets, and other containers are being advanced and withdrawn. Ukuleles, kazoos, harmonicas, and any number of makeshift metal noisemakers accompany the song, which is an innocent salute to Postwar, a hope that the end of shortages, the end of Austerity, is near[.] (
593)
If I can find the time, tomorrow I'll explain the power of that "[u]phill and invisible" and describe the telescopic glory of the prose of those who fiddle with the dials, zooming in and out in an anti-willy-nilly, but who don't, as I do, sound like bad imitations of the Beats when they do it.
Agreed that this book is excellent reading -- I don't know how much is to be gained though by differentiating it with ATD (which I liked a whole lot too), they're sort of apples and oranges as far as I can tell (so far anyway, which is pretty early) -- it bears some comparison with Vineland (which Ilawlt). I wish there was some way for this book to make it into production as a movie with muppet actors.
Posted by: The Modesto Kid | Saturday, 08 August 2009 at 06:10 AM
I saw this book for the first time this morning at the library. Someone's put it out on the leisure reading shelf with the James Patterson books, &etc. The reference librarians around here are quirky.
Posted by: j.s.nelson | Saturday, 08 August 2009 at 03:49 PM
Modesto -- Rumor has it that *Inherent Vice* is being shopped around Hollywood. I'd love to see it go down.
Posted by: Luther Blissett | Sunday, 09 August 2009 at 12:53 AM
I heard that too -- I'm sure they're going to use live actors though which strikes me as not the way to go. But, any casting suggestions? All the actors I can think of to play Doc are either not human (Floyd Pepper) or else too old (Danny DeVito? Jeff Bridges? Nick Nolte?...) I don't think Doc is much older than 35 -- he ought to be in TRP's age cohort (who was 33 in 1970).
Posted by: The Modesto Kid | Sunday, 09 August 2009 at 07:56 AM
Maybe the guy who plays McNulty could be Bjornsen? (Bjornsen's character is maybe closer to McNulty's fat malevolent colleague... I'm sort of picturing all of the cop/lawyer characters as faces from The Wire.)
Posted by: The Modesto Kid | Sunday, 09 August 2009 at 07:46 PM
Actually, I believe toward the end of the novel, we learn that Doc hasn't even reached 30 yet. (Which is another reason why I find it odd that book reviewers keep on referring to him as some elderly burn-out like The Dude.) I wonder if Bjornsen is much older, given that they are what Wilson Harris calls "antagonistic twins" in his criticism.
Sean Penn back in Spicolli days could have covered Sportello, but I can't think of any young male actors who could now. Then again, I'm not familiar with many young male actors, because I'm completely out of touch with Hollywood. Just so long as it's not Michael Cera, I'd be happy.
Posted by: Luther Blissett | Monday, 10 August 2009 at 02:37 AM
I reckon James Franco, spiffing up his Freaks&Geeks burnout a little and edging into a young Columbo, could be a pretty good Sportello. Possibly too pretty though, and certainly too tall.
Posted by: Jerry the Nipper | Monday, 10 August 2009 at 08:55 AM
(a slightly younger) Deirdre Lovejoy would be perfect for the role of Penny. Anyone else irritated by the stilted quality of Hope Harlingen's dialogue?
Posted by: The Modesto Kid | Monday, 10 August 2009 at 08:36 PM
"...a young Columbo..." Oh, yes. You nailed it. Befuddled and only wearing the trenchcoat because he can sleep under it and carry all kinds of goodies its the voluminous crannies...
Posted by: Infant Tyrone | Saturday, 19 September 2009 at 03:02 AM