[lit-ideas] Irwin Corey for Pynchon (back in the old days of freedom)

A great moment in literature-EY



Professor Irwin Corey accepts the National Book Award Fiction Citation 
for Thomas Pynchon and Gravity's Rainbow, Thursday, April 18, 1974, 
Alice Tully Hall,  Lincoln Center, New York

http://www.irwincorey.org/routines.html

Professor Irwin Corey:
     However... accept this financial stipulation - ah - stipend in 
behalf of, uh, Richard Python for the great contribution and to quote 
from some of the missiles which he has contributed...Today we must all 
be aware that protocol takes precedence over procedure. However you say 
- WHAT THE - what does this mean... in relation to the tabulation 
whereby we must once again realize that the great fiction story is now 
being rehearsed before our very eyes, in the Nixon administration... 
indicating that only an American writer can receive...the award for 
fiction, unlike Solzinitski whose fiction doesn't hold water. Comrades - 
friends, we are gathered here not only to accept in behalf of one 
recluse - one who has found that the world in itself which seems to be a 
time not of the toad - to quote even Studs TurKAL. And many people ask 
"Who are Studs TurKAL?" It's not "Who are Studs TurKAL?" it's "Who am 
Studs TurKAL?"

This in itself as an edifice of the great glory that has gone beyond, 
and the intuitive feeling of the American people, based on the 
assumption that the intelligence not only as Mencken once said, "He who 
underestimates the American pubic - public, will not go broke." This is 
merely a small indication of this vast throng gathered here to once 
again behold and to perceive that which has gone behind and to that 
which might go forward into the future...we've got to hurdle these 
obstacles. This is the main deterrent upon which we have gathered our 
strength and all the others who say, "What the hell did that get?" - We 
don't know. We've got to perforce withhold the loving boy... And as 
Miller once said in one of his great novels- what did he ... that 
language is only necessary when communication is endangered. And you sit 
there bewildered, and Pinter who went further said "It is not the lack 
of communication but fear of communication." That's what the Goddamn 
thing is it's we fear - communication. Oh - fortunately the prize has 
only been given to authors - unlike the Academy Award which is given to 
a female and a male, indicating the derision of the human specie - God 
damn it!

But we have no paranoia, and Mr. Pynchon has attained, and has created 
for himself serenity, and it is only the insanity that has kept him 
alive in his paranoia. We speak of the organ...of the orgasm...Who the 
hell wrote this? And the jury has determined to divide the prize between 
two writers - to Thomas Pynchon for his GRAVITY'S RAINBOW. Now GRAVITY'S 
RAINBOW is a token of this man's genius...he told me so himself...that 
he could...in other words, have been more specific, but rather than to 
allude the mundane, he has come to the conclusion that brevity is the 
importance of our shallow existence. God damn. Ladies and Gentlemen. To 
the distinguished panel on the, on the dais and to the other winners, 
for poetry and religion and science. The time will come when religion 
will outlive its usefulness. Marx, Groucho Marx, once said that religion 
is the opiate of the people. I say that when religion outlives its 
usefulness, then opium...will be the opiate...Ahh that's not a bad idea...

All right...However, I want to thank Mr. Guinzburg, Tom Guinzburg of the 
Viking Press, who has made it possible for you people to be here this 
evening to enjoy the Friction Citation - the Fiction Citation. GRAVITY'S 
RAINBOW - a small contribution to a certain degree, since there are over 
three and a half billion people in the world today. 218 of them ... 
million live in the United States which is a very, very small amount 
compared to those that are dying elsewhere...Well, I say that you will 
be on the road to new horizons, for we who live in a society where sex 
is a commodity and a politician can become a TV personality, it's not 
easy to conform if you have any morality...I, I, I said that myself many 
years ago...But I do want to thank the bureau...I mean the committee, 
the organization for the $10,000 they've given out...tonight they made 
over $400,000 and I think that I have another appointment. I would like 
to stay here, but for the sake of brevity I, I must leave. I do want to 
thank you, I want to thank Mr. TurKAL. I want to thank Mr. Knopf who 
just ran through the auditorium* and I want to thank Breshnev, Kissinger 
- acting President of the Unites States - and also want to thank Truman 
Capote and thank you. 
_________________________________________________________________________
* referring to the streaker who ran nude across the stage.

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