MDDM Ch. 58 Young Nathe

[Paul Mackin]

Another milkmaid connection just occured to me. In developing his vaccine
against smallpox, Jenner obtain the cowpox virus from a milkmaid.
in Gloucestershire. Wasn't that where that big cheese came from?

P.

Paul Mackin wrote:

> 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
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
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