MDDM Ch. 58 Young Nathe

[Paul Mackin]

Clément Levy wrote:

> Well, you know many things about Pynchon's works that I don't, but those
> milkmaids may be some remembering of Proust's milkmaids in _A l'ombre des
> jeunes filles en fleurs_, first part (the second book of _A la recherche du
> temps perdu_). The young man keeps thinking of them during the train
> journey to Balbec, and even sees one, just at the beginnig of the book, and
> then can't stop loving in advance any country-girl he could meet when
> driving through the forests all around. I believe they stop being
> milkmaids, but I'm not sure.
> The fact that P's milkmaids always trick their milk (the disguting thing
> with snails, or more, p. 464) could be some humoristic re-reading of Proust
> (his milkmaiden are so pure and naive!).
> What do you think of that?
> Regards.
> Clément

Think you might well be onto something, Clement. By way of research I checked
the English translation of Proust and found the word 'milk-girl' rather than
the more picturesque 'milkmaid' or 'dairymaid' is used by way of rendering
Proust's words.  Is this because P's narrator  emphasizes her milk-selling role
with 'la 'marchande de lait'  rather than with what must have been her
cow-milking duties as well? Seems to me that the English word milkmaid (or
dairymaid) tends at least  slightly to connote the latter function.  There was,
and maybe still is, the  prominent tradename of "Diarymaid," which I think
might have pictured a girl with a cow.  Does anyone remember it?

But more important to your point, I do think that the way young Marcel sees the
tall beautiful girl from the window of the train  to Balbec as a concrete
embodiment of the dream and possibility of happiness is quite similiar to the
way young Nathe, who knows little yet of the opposite sex,  views his own
milkmaids.

P.


>
>
> jbor à dit à ÒRe: MDDM Ch. 58 Young NatheÓ.
> [2002/06/17 23:15:14]
>
> > Mike wrote:
> >
> > > On the more biographical front: young Tom may very well have had a job
> > > similar to Nathan's--his father was in charge of roads and surveying for
> > > the county, wasn't he? (I forget his exact title).  So it's possible
> > that
> > > Pynchon found himself working on a county road crew during the summers
> > > between years at Cornell.  I can't recall any direct evidence to support
> > > this, but I've always read Benny Profane's experinces on the road crew
> > as
> > > semi-autobigraphical.
> > >
> > >
> >
> > He was indeed; I hadn't even considered that connection. Thanks. Recall
> > also
> > that Pynchon's first fictional protagonist is named Nathan "Lardass"
> > Levine,
> > and that events in 'The Small Rain' supposedly draw on Pynchon's own
> > experiences as well. So, perhaps there is a mysterious milkmaid d'amour
> > lurking somewhere in Tommy P's past, eh?
> >
> > I think you might be right re. Benny too, and there's also the stunning
> > passage in _GR_ where Tyrone recalls his time in the Berkshires doing
> > "Chapter 81 work" (625-6), remembering those
> >
> >     [...] days when in superstition and fright he could *make it all fit*,
> >     seeing clearly in each entry a record, a history: his own, his
> > winter's,
> >     his country's . . .
> >
> > It is quite tempting to try and *make it all fit*, isn't it.
> >
> > best
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >