Thomas Pynchon, the famously media-shy author of "Gravity's Rainbow," edited his dialogue for an appearance on "The Simpsons" so that his character wouldn't make fun of Homer Simpson, according to a member of the show's creative team.

"Sorry, guys. Homer is my role model and I won't speak ill of him," Pynchon scribbled on a script page faxed back to the "Simpsons" writers. A photo of the fax was tweeted out Thursday by "Simpsons" executive producer Matt Selman. Pynchon had...