Professor Irwin Corey's Pynchon connection is apocryphal.
Here's how it is described by famous New York writer
and newspaper columnist Jim Knipfel:
"One of Corey’s most notorious public appearances
came on April 18, 1974, when he showed up at Alice Tully
Hall to accept the National Book Award for Gravity’s
Rainbow on behalf of Thomas Pynchon.
'Thomas Guinzberg [of the Viking Press] first suggested
the idea,' he says, 'and Pynchon approved it.'
So, after being mis-introduced (as 'Robert Corey'),
the little man with the wild hair and the rumpled suit
walked to the podium and addressed some of the most
esteemed figures in American publishing and literature:
'However...I accept this financial stipulation–ah–stipend
in behalf of Richard Python for the great contribution
which 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 does not 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 Studs TurKAL. And many
people ask ‘Who are Studs TurKAL?’ It’s
not ‘Who are Studs TurKAL?’ it’s ‘Who
AM Studs TurKAL?’...'
And so forth. Corey’s speech was accentuated by
a nude man who streaked across the stage as he spoke.
The audience, needless to say, was dumbfounded by the
entire spectacle.
'Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy were there, 'Corey said.
'They read some poetry before I went on. So the next
day, the guy from The New York Times writes,
‘Oh, to hear Hume Cronyn read such beautiful poetry,
and then to have...this?’ He smirked. 'Ehh, but
I had to run. I had to get downtown to do another show
that night. But I got paid $500 for it and I had a good
time.'"
Corey
CD
Corey's work will soon be available on a CD ROM and will include his famous speech. Visit Professor Irwin Corey's new Official Web Site: http://www.irwincorey.com for more information.
