neofascist Pynchon readers, Playboy Japan

"Michael Kenny"
>But then we can't evaluate the merits of your claims.

Sure you can. Look at what gets posted on Pynchon-L and characterize it the
best way you think fits, the posts are all in the archives if you miss them
streaming by.   There's been no end to pro-Bush, pro-war in Afghanistan,
pro-global capital posts in this forum, many of which contain views that
could easily be located within neoconservative, right-wing or  neo-fascist
political perspectives.

Le Pen is a good example of a contemporary neofascist, there are many
others.  I would evaluate so-called "mainstream" politicians based on the
degree to which they share similar positions on issues.  For an overview,
see Martin Lee's book, _The Beast Reawakens_.

Re Pynchon's Playboy Japan interview, all of the issues you raise have been
discussed here in detail since the beginning of this year. The editors of
the magazine defend the authenticity and integrity of the interview and
this has been corroborated to my satisfaction by other people not connected
to the magazine. Believe what you want to believe. If you want to make
Pynchon a supporter of the unelected Bush Jr administration and this phony
war on terrorism, I think you're barking up the wrong tree, but feel free.

If you look at the record you'll find that Pynchon has said more about
himself, in various situations and especially with journalists, than the
"Pynchon-as-recluse" myth wants to admit. In the last 5 years he has talked
to CNN, has been interviewed by journalist David Hadju, by the French
translators of M&D (who reported many details of their interaction with
Pynchon in the French press, I provided links to the relevant urls some
time ago), Playboy Japan; he has responded to questions for several
P-listers, and he initiated at least one interview project with a major US
journalist that was later aborted.

Re the relative obscurity of the Japanese media, it's well known (and
easily corroborated) that many American and European celebrities do things
in the Japanese media market they would never do at home, including
appearances in TV and print advertisements, product endorsements,
interviews, etc.  I believe that one reason many of them do this is because
they know the Japanese media are not typically on the radar screen of their
fans and followers in other parts of the world. I've worked as a US
correspondent for more than a dozen Japanese magazines off and on for more
than a decade and know a little bit about the media market over there, but
please don't take my word for it, do a little research of your own and I
think you'll find this to be true.