>>24643501
Pynchon is indeed “famously reclusive” (a bit of a paradoxical turn of words, come to think of it, kek), but there is already still a surprising amount of info we have on his life, from some basic biographical data, to some journalism or accounts by friends or acquaintances of his, with greater or lesser reliability as the case may be. I could see there being enough to write a good obituary for him, but it’d probably focus on his books and literary reputation a lot.
But they got his schooling, his stint in the Navy, some of his early work history as a technical writer at Boeing, some funny interactions he’s had with some of the media (voiced himself on The Simpsons, sent a short letter to some whacky claim in an article about Pynchon being JD Salinger/behind the Wanda Tinasky letters/something like that, saying “Close, but not it. Keep trying”), they got his wife and kid’s names, then his bibliography to talk about. I could see them padding out an obituary with that. They’d report the news of some of his biographical documents, private letters and correspondence, manuscripts of his works etc. archived by scholars being released to the public with his death. Maybe even a statement from the wife or kid, and responses of other famous authors.
