M&D: Cowart article/ch.35

[rj]

There are a couple of things which interest me here. The narrative
structure of _M&D_ echoes that of _Vineland_, with the decade or two
interval between the two main narrative threads. So, we get a glimpse of
two generations' history for the price of one historical novel in both
cases. Perhaps in _Vineland_ Pynchon was rehearsing, or accustoming his
readers to the style of the later magnum opus. Along with this there
seems to be a movement from the theme of the individual adrift in a
chaotic, hostile and dehumanised universe (in _V._ and _GR_), to a focus
on families, and the notion of family (adrift in a chaotic, hostile and
... ). I doubt very much that Ethelmer and DePugh are actually blood
brothers, and I'm inclined to see it as the deliberate working of some
type of motif of the 'absent father', one reflected in the other
narrative as well. 

Pynchon seems very intent on contesting and deconstructing traditional
notions of the nuclear (American) family in both of his most recent
novels. There is a lot in the framing family narrative of _M&D_, as
Michael points out: the way money is used by the parent generation to
exert and maintain filial loyalty and obedience; the arms trading and
serendipitous entrepreneurial speculations which have enabled and
sustained this cozy fireside upper middle class tableau; the differing
expectations for the boys and 'Brae; the way Aunt Euphy's insights are
scorned, and so forth. There seems to be substance here which might be
as germane to Pynchon's themes and intent as Wicks' actual "story"
(his-story) of Charles and Jeremiah's fabled quest itself.

Sorry if this was all covered in mdmd.

best


Michael Crowley wrote:

> J Wade is the uncle who sends Ethelmer "bank-drafts on whims inscrutable"
> and takes him along to visit the stables (31), thus making it hard for
> 'Thelmer to reconcile this generosity with the family stories of Wade's
> arms trading before the war.
> 
> DePugh is definitely Ives's son, made clear when he first appears: "DePugh
> is the son of Ives LeSpark, like Ethelmer home on a Visit from School"
> (96).  The likeness here seems to be that they're both home on visits, not
> that they're both Ives's sons, though that's a possibility.  As I
> mentioned before, p. 350 seems to indicate Ethelmer is Ives's son, but on
> both 217 and 263, Ethelmer refers to Ives as "Nunk."  It seems unlikely to
> me that Ethelmer is Lomax's son and I don't recall any evidence supporting
> Lomax.Maybe Ethelmer
> 
> The narrator comments on p.30, "Ethelmer smiles and pollicates the Revd,
> and less certainly Mr. LeSpark, his own Uncle, as if to say[...]"
> I guess "his own" marks the constrast between Wicks (to whom he's not
> really even a nephew-in-law) and Wade (who is the brother of whomever his
> father might be--Ives, Lomax, somebody else?).  Which eliminates my next
> guess, that Ethelmer was like the Robert Duvall character in the
> Godfather, taken in by the LeSparks and made part of the family...
> 
> I'm just going to assume that Ethelmer is Ives's son and calls him Nunk
> for fun and that Ives, in a manner typical of lawyers, has hedged his
> political bets by sending one son to school at Cambridge, one at Princeton.
> Although I have to admit, it kind of pisses me off to have read the book
> several times and still not be sure.
>