Nativity & Religion

[Paul Mackin]

On Mon, 31 Jul 2000, Douglas Lannark wrote:
> 
> Now to your question concerning my remark about „if P. Had any
> Catholic upbringing, it surely would be noticeable....“ You wrote: ‘Like what do you mean by noticeable?’  And that you have the opposite opinion.
> 
> Of the five or six people responding, you were the only one to take this standpoint - all others supporting a Congregational upbringing. Not to imply „strength by numbers,“ nor that, for my endeavour of casting TS’s most plausible nativity,TP’s religous upbringing was of any greater importance.
> 
> It is a good point, though, and you are right in pondering on why so many critics have neglected this theme. What I meant was TP’s upbringing and not influence. TP seems influenced by just about every direction - not only Catholic.
> 
> In GR, as I read it, most direct religous references are of a Puritan nature - TP calls the Sunday Service a „Sermon“ and not a „Mass“ and except for the „Eisheiligen“ there are as good as no references to Saints, but many to Ghosts -- or a I forgetting many passages?


Are we talking about P's upbringing or Slothrop's. I know I got confused
on this before. If it's P's, although I can't cite much chapter and verse,
I do essentially agree with Terrance. The feel of early religious
indoctrination  if any seem more Catholic than Protestant or Puritan. That
memorable 'Mom I sent someone to hell today' all by itself clinches it for
me. Stories with this theme were systematically drummed into Catholic
youth always involving sins of impurity as they were called. This sort
of thing was beginning to die out by the time P came along. But in a
small town community of the type P grew up in it might have been still
extant. Especially if the parents were fairly conservative. It would be
intolerable for me to say 'it takes one to know one' but truthfully that's
how I feel about P's fundamental, involuntary religious  perspective. The
other thing is I'm not aware of any howling blunders P makes with regard
to Catholic teachings--of the kind that  even genius nonCatholic writers
are so prone to make. Strange to say this kind of accuracy can only be
achieved by an insider. I know this is hard to fathom. 

Anyway I honestly don't buy the idea that P feels Puritanism as anything
but a historic fact that he read about and knew existed in his own family
history. Of course I could be wrong.
			P.