The Courier's Tragedy

[Dave Monroe]

And, of course ...

"When Oedipa visits Emory Bortz, he tells her of an
edition of The Courier's Tragedy in the Vatican
library, a pornographic version, '"[i]llicit
microfilms"' of which Bortz '"smuggled out"' of the
Vatican in 1961 ([Lot 49, p.] 154).  This datum,
togetrher with the earlier name Jesus Arrabal--Jesus
of teh suburbs (Spanish arrabal = suburb)--evokes the
Second-World-War Vatican adventures of one James
SJesus Angleton, a legendary player inthe real CIA,
with its washington campus in Langley, Virginia, the
CIA Pynchon has teased us with all along." (p. 95)

[...]

"Angleton smuggled Nazi inetlligence agents who, it
was thought, would be helpful against the Soviets in
teh already anticipated Cold War." (p. 96)

[...]

"Angleton forged a series of documents he alleged
originated in teh Vatican to cover th trail of this
underground railroad ....  His actions were
treasonous: the war was not yet over, and he was
giving aid and comfort to the enemy.  Angleton had to
cover his trail.  While he was at it, he had a rare
opportunity to conceal various wartime financial
transactions and negotiations between German and
American corporations, especially clients of the
Dulles brothers.
   "Which brings us to the Vessel affair.  Angelton
created a fictitious Vatican spy, code-named Vessel,
wth the help of Monsignor Domenioco Tardini.  Vessewl
would provide Angleton with cover in the event his
scheme was discoveres (The Courier's Tragedy features
a treacherous Domenico).... (p. 96)

Charles Hollander, "Pynchon, JFK and the CIA."   His
sources ...

Aarons, Mark and John Loftus.  Unholy Trinity:
   The Vatican, the Nazis, and Soviet Intelligence.
   New York: St. Martin's, 1991.

Loftus, John and Mark Aarons.  The Secret War
   against the Jews: How Western Espionage Betrayed
   the Jewish People.  New York: St. Martin's, 1994.

Winks, Robin W.  Cloak and Gown: Scholars in the
   Secret War, 1939-1961.  New York: Morrow, 1987.

And do note as well ...

Buckley, William F.  Spytime: The Undoing of
   James Jesus Angleton.  New York: Harcourt, 2000.

A novel, of all things ...

--- jbor <jbor at bigpond.com> wrote:
>  
> Back to the Theatre of the Absurd. There's Jesus
> Arrabal later on, another character ominously
> pulling various of the plot strings -- perhaps --
> and whose surname, using the Hollander method, leads
> us to Fernando Arrabal

By the way, I believe Martin Esslin essentially
created, nominally, at least, by virtue of naming it
as such, The Theater of the Absurd.  The way the
Cahiers du Cinema (?) critics (and I could trace down
the specific article, but ...) created film noir ...

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