MDMD(13): Fathers and sons

[Michel Ryckx]

Chapter 20 offers some beautiful thoughts on Charles Mason, as he is
presented as the father of two sons, while at the same time having a
difficult relationshiop with his own father.

First, after having delayed the confrontation with his family and the
boys, Mason at last goes out to visit them.  The relation with the boys
is, well, "as if he has never been away", (M&D, 202.26-27), and he's
surprized by

"[. . .] their inability to hold back, the purity of the
not-yet-dishonest, --'t would take a harder Case than Mason not to
struggle with Tears of Sentiment."  (M&D, 202.28-30)

which feeling the parents among you must not be unfamiliar with.

On the other hand, Mason, ("I am thirty-four", 203.5) is afraid of his
father; an unpleasant, but short, conversation follows.

But then, the story focuses on Mason sr.  We see his son from the
father's point of view: jr. helping sr. out in the bakery, a long time
ago, and conversations the father wanted to have --differing from the
ones actually held--, which makes this "neck of the great Family Funnel"
(204.3) a lot more vulnerable: the two last paragraphs of this chapter
are very moving.

Paul Nightingale, in one of his highly esteemed posts, asked us last
week:

"Therefore, and not for the first time, a question. How is the above a
'history of the present'?"

I cannot help but think about two things on mr. Pynchon personally:

(1) The novel is (also) dedicated to a young boy, mr. Pynchon's son.
This chapter gave me the impression the father took over from the writer
when describing the love for kids and vice versa.

(2) It has been rumoured that mr. Pynchon has been living estranged from
his family.  Now, older, wiser, he's able to see the other as he may
have been.

Just a thought.

Michel.