GRGR 31: naughty Nalline

[Paul Mackin]

On Mon, 10 Jul 2000 kevin at limits.org wrote:

> The question I've always had about Mrs. Slothrop's letter is:  does she
> have a _crush_ on Kennedy?  Has she had an affair with him?
> 
> The reason this is Important to me is much is made of evil fathers, evil
> Broderick selling his son to the Faustian Jamf, but then we have this
> woman getting giddy, drunk, and flirty with "a fellow Harvard parent"
> while inquiring about her son's well-being.  The first few times I read
> this passage, I glossed "dream" as "nightmare," but now I'm not so
> sure.  There was a thread on this list a few months back about Pynchon's
> mothers; well, here's Ma Slothrop.

I never got this idea about Nalline and Joe Kennedy. Joe had affairs with
movie stars not housewives. If there WAS some sentimental attachment
between the two, why would she openly display her letch for his son? To
make the older guy jealous? An anachronistic feature of Nalline's
admission is that it is only much later that Jack is to become 
every women's dream (according to the myth). Just dunno about Joe and
Nalline.

			P.