GRGR (6): Darlene and other British delicacies

[Terrance F. Flaherty]

Michael Perez wrote:

> I read through episode 15 again with fond memories of my first time
> through _GR_ in May of 1974, a reward for making it through my freshman
> year at college - reading that wasn't assigned.  The Mrs. Quoad schtick
> struck me then as comic relief.

The entire book strikes me as comic relief--mindless, though mindful
pleasure. One can take any section of GR and read it on a train as a short
story just for the fun of it, and laugh and laugh all the way home. I have
a friend (a priest), come down from harvard for the summer, I gave him a
copy of GR, he won't read the novel, been giving him copies of The Brother
Karmazov for years, but he'd rather spend his leisure time translating
greek and latin texts. So I told him to read the Kenosha Kid, Pudding,
Candy Drill and a few other sections. I thought to myself, I'll let Pynchon
tickle him a bit and then I'll give him CH 5 of V. (In which Stencil nearly
goes West with an alligator) and see what he thinks of Fairing's Parish and
all.  He gave GR back to me the other day. "Someone could make a  real
funny movie from this book," he said. I laughed and laughed all the way
home.

> My second time through, my reaction
> was a bit more profound, I thought it might be something like culture
> clash.

Yes, reminds me of  Henry James, yes, from NY (Pynchon, James) to New
England (Slothrop, tradition of  Puritanism)  from America to England and
back again.


> This time, I'm undecided, having read the "assigned" passages
> twice last week. Is it what we do for love?  I mean, Slothrop is
> suitably rewarded for his ordeal.  Since British food is
> stereotypically slammed for being shall we say for those with an
> acquired taste for it, it seems rather gratuitous to perpetuate the
> stereotype.  However, it is quite hilarious.

The gratuitous perpetuation of stereotypes. Now that's interesting. What is
Pynchon up to with Mrs Quoad's shtick? What's to become of Mrs's Quoad and
all the gratuitous perpetuations of stereotypes? Quite hilarious indeed.
Satire? Menippean is the term Max brought to the discussion here. Worth
considering.

>   Does the information for the current episode come from the watcher
> behind
> the orange shade and turn out to be a fabrication?  Or does this
> episode serve to establish that it accually happened and that the later
> investigation was faulty?  "And where, keepers of maps, specialists at
> surveillance, would you say the next one will fall?"  [120.14-5]
>

I think Jose Liste Noya's "Mapping the 'Unmappable'" was discussed earlier.
It's good reading for this section.

P.S. Anyone know of anything written on Upton Sinlair's influence on
Pynchon?
I'll post my own take on this shortly.
Terrance



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