Faith of His Fathers (and Mothers)

[LARSSON at vax1.mankato.msus.edu]

Thanks, Chuck for finally getting past my own inertia and posting the PLAYBOY
article.  One paragraph (perhaps) clears up one thing that has long intrigued
me--TRP's apparent fascination with Catholic dogma and jargon and the Jew-as-
Other:
"When his parents came to visit, he introduced his mother this way: "Jules,
this is my mother. She's an anti-Semite. I just didn't want my children to
surround themselves with Jews." I remember her as an exceptionally beautiful
woman, all cut glass, ivory and sable. I believe she had been a nurse, had a
lot of Irish in her and was a Catholic. Though Mr. Pynchon was a Protestant,
she raised their children in her own faith. Tom was the oldest. Then came
Judith, about five years younger. The youngest was John"

Now I can begin to understand why a boy with such a nice Calvinist background
should get into such arcane mysteries as the Mass and Kabbalah.

Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)