VV (1): Notes and Queries Section II

[Lorentzen / Nicklaus]

thomas e. schrieb:

> "Profane (...) was only half Catholic (mother Jewish)"

> Catholic and Jewish religion seem to be of high interest to Pynchon.
> Emphasized already in "Mortality and Mercy in Vienna" - Siegel's mother, for
> example, is a renegade Catholic, his father a Jew - not to mention all this
> confessional/Freudian business going on in the story. I have not yet figured
> out why exactly these religious/cultural backgrounds are so important and
> what they tell us about the characters - apart from the guilt and repression
> bit, which certainly is relevant here.


  well, in profane's case the mixture might indicate in the first place
  - spiritual homelessness. 

kfl