pynchon-l-digest V2 #1939

[Miriam Hardin]

lorentzen-nicklaus at t-online.de (lorentzen-nicklaus) wrote:

>
>                     --- here comes a passage i have a real problem with:
>
> "pynchon's politics drive his aesthetics, his satire, his sense of humor, his 
>choice of friends - to some extent, even his choice of wives. (...) melanie 
>jackson is a daughter of wall street attorney william e. jackson, and a 
>granddaughter of robert houghton jackson, associate justice of the united states 
>supreme court (1941-1954)and chief prosecuter for the united states at the 
>nuremberg trial of war-criminals (1945-1946); her mother was nancy debney 
>roosevelt, granddaughter of theodore roosevelt. on his mother's side, then, 
>young jackson pynchon is the great-grandson of a supreme court justice, and the 
>great-grandson of a president. wiving goes bei destiny". (pynchon's politics: 
>53)

I have problems with this passage, too.  It seems as if Hollander thinks TRP ran an extensive background check on MJ before deciding to work with and/or fall in love with her.  I can't imagine him checking people's political pedigrees and sorting them accordingly.

Miriam


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