Thomas Pynchon and a bumper sticker

November 1, 2020 8:27 PM

Years ago, I saw a very shitty beater car somewhere in the northeast (around Boston/Cambridge) with a bumper sticker that said: "My other car is a Pynchon novel." WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

I have been thinking about this for over a decade and now with COVID downtime I think about it more and more. Internet is of some help but doesn't answer the question.

Does anyone get it? Know anything about this bumper sticker? Have some theories?

Should I just accept I will never know?

All help and clues are much appreciated.

posted by namemeansgazelle to Society & Culture (11 answers total)

Is it like...about how Gravity's Rainbow is really big? Like, your other car is a book that's the size of a car?

I do think this person is giving you a clue to not invite them to a party
posted by goodbyewaffles at 8:35 PM on November 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: It's a reference to this comic strip, where one can still purchase that exact bumper sticker.
posted by katecholamine at 8:37 PM on November 1, 2020 [45 favorites]

.... because cars are needlessly heavy, over-engineered, and take an inordinate amount of energy just to get you anywhere?
posted by armoir from antproof case at 8:39 PM on November 1, 2020 [11 favorites]

Here’s some background on the trope this is playing off of.
posted by rikschell at 8:45 PM on November 1, 2020 [3 favorites]

There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away...

Poetry foundation: There is no Frigate like a Book
posted by momus_window at 9:45 PM on November 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: 100% the Cat and Girl comic & associated sticker that katecholamine linked to.

The other TopatoCo Cat and Girl merch probably collectively provide a decent sense of the comic, but I suppose I'd describe it as dryly humorous, over-educated and prone to sporadic metacommentary, existing in some liminal space between 2000s hipster and slightly too dorky/self-aware to qualify as such, and likely to have been read by someone who went to college between perhaps 1995 and 2010? (Which is to say, a significant demographic both in the Boston/Camberville area and on MeFi. Unsurprisingly, TopatoCo's also where MeFi swag can be obtained, along with misc. internet comics/sites/entities from the 2000s, like A Softer World, Exploding Dog, A Lesson is Learned..., Buttercup Festival, Kingdom of Loathing, etc.)
posted by ASF Tod und Schwerkraft at 9:54 PM on November 1, 2020 [18 favorites]

A riff on license plates: I saw a Rolls Royce with the plate "2nd Car".
posted by Cranberry at 12:49 AM on November 2, 2020 [1 favorite]

Because their other car is evidently one of these.
posted by scruss at 4:14 AM on November 2, 2020 [2 favorites]

I have this on my guitar case for bonus confusion.
posted by terretu at 4:22 AM on November 2, 2020 [9 favorites]

There's not one solid explanation, it can mean different things to different people, but my take would be: This is my shitty beater car, but my "other car" [read: the other big thing in my life] is a Pynchon novel: big, complex, beautiful, deep, zany, situated in an alternate reality, and ultimately incomprehensible.
posted by beagle at 6:35 AM on November 2, 2020 [4 favorites]

Yeah, it’s trying to say “I’m a 35-55 year old dweeb with higher education who likes to appear smugly cultured.”
posted by matildaben at 3:09 PM on November 2, 2020 [1 favorite]