schlemiel

Anyway, in unrelated news, I came across a couple articles that consider the schlemiel: exhibits A and B. I've yet to read them in their entirety, but they concern famous Jewish writers and comedians using, or associating with, the term, from Walter Benjamin to Woody Allen to Philip Roth. To me, it's worth noting that long before "channeling his inner Jewish mother" Thomas Pynchon was at home with the Yiddish word in V, if I'm not mistaken, describing Benny Profane as such.

Pynchon In Public 2014

"She hangs on the western wall." -V. #Pynchon2014 pic.twitter.com/ulG1qdfq1y
— Steven Fruhmoto (@StevenFruhmoto) May 9, 2014

Every day is #PynchonInPublic day. pic.twitter.com/I4dTFQQymu
— hook echo (@null_fruit) May 8, 2014

#pynchoninpublic #pynchon2014 pic.twitter.com/y209VY9KWQ
— Refined Quotes (@slothrop89) May 8, 2014

#pynchoninpublic i haven't been outside enough today to catch all the token copies of gravity's rainbow, alas pic.twitter.com/YoLO2WWNC5
— Nicole Dib (@ndib22) May 9, 2014

Reading #pynchoninpublic while enjoying a spot of afternoon tea #holdthehallucinogenichollandaise pic.twitter.com/m5yrgEHI5M
— Eilidh Macdonald (@thishereeilidh) May 8, 2014

Lenin Pissed Here: Muted Horn on Gents Cubicle at The Crown #Clerkenwell Green #pynchoninpublic #Pynchon2014 pic.twitter.com/QRBBHk2WQE
— liminallondoner (@liminallondoner) May 8, 2014

Muted Horn in pink chalk graces green telecom box nr The Fox & Anchor #London #pynchoninpublic #Pynchon2014 pic.twitter.com/0Vc57yn93K
— liminallondoner (@liminallondoner) May 8, 2014

Night falls over #Pynchon2014 #pynchoninpublic . pic.twitter.com/DANEF1z4GO
— Fred Kiesche (@FredKiesche) May 8, 2014

Heading out for #Pynchon2014. #PynchonInPublic #PIPcast #TrysteroBanana https://t.co/QRjse4Lsh6 pic.twitter.com/7HymsdOBlY
— Entrippy! (@Ntrippy) May 8, 2014

#pynchoninpublic pic.twitter.com/PytFSwAXFJ
— Tim Strzechowski (@MrStrzechowski) May 8, 2014

Only Pynchon book I haven't read yet for this years #pynchoninpublic #pynchon2014 happy birthday Thomas Pynchon!! pic.twitter.com/dMoLpnlX6o
— Thomas Sieben (@thomassieben) May 8, 2014

Hmm, thought I tweeted this earlier. Reading GR via osmosis. #pynchoninpublic #Pynchon2014 pic.twitter.com/wOCL11o3Eh

— Greg Thomas (@TrysteroCoffee) May 9, 2014

Stamped the rest of the bills in my change envelope. #pynchoninpublic #pynchon2014 pic.twitter.com/vvaWYLzZ72
— Greg Thomas (@TrysteroCoffee) May 8, 2014

Picasso in Luzern

Many years ago, in Luzern, Switzerland, I walked over a wooden foot bridge depicting a dance of death in its ceiling and soon after, arrived at my destination, a Picasso House. There were about 15 prime Picassos on two small floors, and the only other tourists were a group of camera-wielding Japanese. For each painting, each Japanese tourist would photograph all of the others standing by the painting. You can imagine it took some time for them to work their way through the museum. If I'm not mistaken I was saving money by staying in a youth hostel in Zug, forty minutes away by train, and reading V by Thomas Pynchon. This was in the fall of 1989, and soon after, the Berlin Wall would fall.

As the French would say, if they were to say it, "La vie est tres dur, mais il y a toujours des Japonais."

(On March 8, 2014, when I searched online, I could not easily find the house I visited; rather, it appears there is a much larger museum that holds some of Picasso's art, but I'm not sure if these would have been the same paintings that were once literally housed in a house.)

UPDATE: On February 15, 2025, I learned from a Swiss German Joycean that the lost Picasso House's collection was merged in 2008 with Luzern's Rosengart Collection. The Picasso's are still in Luzern.)