The Wall Street Journal published an article last week on Thomas Pynchon's latest novel, Inherent Vice, a noirish novel set in Los Angeles at the end of the 1960s, calling it his most accessible to date. The book features a dope-smoking private investigator who sets out to solve the disappearance of a land developer.
Book synopsis: It’s been awhile since Doc Sportello has seen his ex-girlfriend. Suddenly out of nowhere she shows up with a story about a plot to kidnap a billionaire land developer whom she just happens to be in love with. Easy for her to say. It’s the tail end of the psychedelic sixties in L.A., and Doc knows that “love” is another of those words going around at the moment, like “trip” or “groovy,” except that this one usually leads to trouble. Despite which he soon finds himself drawn into a bizarre tangle of motives and passions whose cast of characters includes surfers, hustlers, dopers and rockers, a murderous loan shark, a tenor sax player working undercover, an ex-con with a swastika tattoo and a fondness for Ethel Merman, and a mysterious entity known as the Golden Fang, which may only be a tax dodge set up by some dentists.
The article discusses the debate among Pynchon's fans and critics as to whether the novel is a sophisticated parody or maybe just a shorter version of the author's typically lengthy works (a novella, as it were). Or maybe Pynchon is embracing a new genre for him, this being his first "mystery".
A single sentence near the top of the article says that the film rights are being handled by Creative Artists Agency. None of Pynchon's previous novels have been filmed.
Inherent Vice is in bookstores this week. See a trailer for the book below, which Pynchon narrates as his character Doc Sportello (and don't miss the wry comment he makes at the end about the price of the book).
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