MMV - Notes on names

[vze422fs at verizon.net]

on 3/23/03 8:17 PM, John Bailey at johnbonbailey at hotmail.com wrote:

> It’s always a tricky question when it comes to the names of Pynchon’s
> characters, and I don’t think a cabbalistic search for meaning therein will
> necessary shed that much light on them. But, it’s certainly something the
> stories play with, tease the reader with, so to begin here’s a list of
> possible references etc. Also, interesting to note the appearance of Rachel
> Owlglass (though not given surname, her height is the same) and in fact the
> consistency of odd name-choices from these early stories.
> 
> “by Tom Pynchon” - did the other early stories originally use this
> abbreviated first name?
> 
> “Cleanth Siegel” – “Siegel's passivity in this story suggests the Greek
> stoic Cleanthes, Zeno's disciple.” Says Charles Hollander in Pynchon's
> Politics: The Presence of an Absence
> (http://www.vheissu.be/art/art_eng_SL_hollander.htm) “Siegel” is German for
> “seal”, and similar to “sigil” as well. Or it could be, you know, someone he
> knew.
> “Rachel” is Hebrew for “innocent lamb” or similar. Note that female
> characters in this story are frequently given only a first name, (Debby
> Considine is the exception), while male characters are given a surname or
> full name.
> “Cousin Miriam” – Miriam is also a Hebrew name, this time a variant on Mary.
> In the Old Testament, Miriam was the older sister of Moses and Aaron.
> “Zeit” is German for “time” – reading the relevant sentence as “cursing Time
> the doctor” is interesting, and not too much of a stretch, in my opinion.
> “Grossmann” – large man? Big Man on Campus?
> “David Lupescu” Hollander notes the lupus-wolf connotations, as well as the
> Magda Lupescu (1896-1977 - ‘official’ mistress and later wife of Caroll II
> of Romania) link. She was unpopular ‘due to her Jewish origin’, which may be
> relevant to this story. This second is perhaps supported by the latter
> reference to David L. as Romanian. Unrelated oddity – there’s a jazz muso
> named Valentin (or Val) Lupescu, Rumanian of course, who heads a band named
> the (wait for it
.) V-Loop Trio. There might also be some interesting stuff
> surrounding Lupescu’s first name, ie King David etc, but I’ll get back to
> that as I’m scared of getting the Bible wrong on the P-list. Look at me.
> That’s actual trembling.
> “Paul Brennan” – It seems that in this story filled with typically obtuse
> Pynchonesque names, we have here an utterly bland one. For this reason, it
> stands out more. Would I be correct in thinking this would be a very
> US-WASPey kind of name?
> “Harvey Duckworth” – What’s a duck worth? Harvard/Duckworth (both publish
> books, though I don’t know how long Duckworth have been around)?
> “Lucy” – the name Lucy has the same root as ‘lucid’, and itself means
> ‘light’.  She doesn’t shed much light on nothing, though.
> “Debby Considine” – consorting? As in, Deb-like consorting?
> “Krinkles Porcino” – Krinkles seem to be some sort of cookie, and porcini
> are a kind of mushroom. Unless there’s a porcine reference in there
> somewhere, I think that will do.
> “Monica” – Now, we aren’t told too much about Monica, seeing as how she’s
> just one of the bit-players in Lucy’s convoluted saga. But I did notice that
> Lucy’s tale ends with “The girl’s a saint”, and so whimsically googling St
> Monica I found her to be the mother of St. Augustine, and also an
> interesting patron saint in her own right. She’s patron of sons & husbands
> who’ve gone astray (her own husband being a monster, and Augustine a
> self-confessed lazy little pig for much of his life), and more specifically
> patron saint of: abuse victims, alcoholics, difficult marriages, victims of
> adultery or unfaithfulness, widows and more, though my favourite is
Patron
> Saint of Disappointing Children.
> “Sybil” – In Greek myth, the sybil was a prophet-figure (there’s also a
> tarot deck named after her).
> “Sam Fleischmann”  - “Meatman” or maybe “Fleshman”, though it’s hardly a
> rare or unusual name.
> “Irving Loon” – Perhaps the lamest name Pynchon has come up with, err, I
> mean, the multivalent resonances of bird, moon and madness add an ambiguity
> to this figure. Insane, a force of nature or simply an aspect of it? Gazing
> down upon the party or rising up from within? Still, suggesting a form of
> psychosis and naming a character Irving Loon smacks of sloth.
> 
> 
> 
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Apparently Loon is an authentic clan name in Ojibwa.

 
<http://r.searchhippo.com/r3.php?i=3&q=ojibwa%2Fojibway%2Floon&u=http%3A%2F%
2Fwww.geocities.com%2Fathens%2Facropolis%2F5579%2Fojibwa.html>


Joe