Pynchon's misdirection

[Tore Rye Andersen]

Good reply, Doug. Thanks.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on Charles Hollander's essays, the 
thin line between interpretation and over-interpretation, and the quest for 
hidden truths. I'm not saying that Pynchon's works are totally devoid of 
hidden meanings, and they're certainly filled to the brim with characters 
seeking revelations and hidden truths. And I'll even go so far as to 
acknowledge that Pynchon has great sympathy for these questers, and that to 
some extent he is tarred with the same brush. In many ways I think Pynchon 
hungers for a world where mysteries, magic and illuminations are still 
abundant. In his Luddite-essay he speaks of Gothic fiction as the result of 
"deep and religious yearnings for that earlier mythic time which had come to 
be known as the Age of Miracles" - an age of "true working magic". And to a 
certain extent I believe Pynchon shares these yearnings.
On the other hand, I believe that this drive towards hidden truths and 
miracles is strongly tempered by a clear-headed skepticism regarding these 
yearnings. We need to go looking for that Grail, perhaps, but it is very 
likely that it isn't there, and that the need itself rather than the hidden 
truths and revelations is what's important. In V. Mondaugen is reminded that 
"Die Welt ist alles was der Fall ist" (and that "God meant nuurk"!). In GR 
there are grailseekers aplenty, but Slothrop finds out that the Schwarzgerät 
is no Grail after all, and we even meet jokers who will sneak "Whoopee 
Cushions into the Siege Perilous, under the very descending arse of the 
grailseeker" (321). And in AtD yet another quester, Auberon Halfcourt, 
realizes that the goal of his quest (which he never reached) wasn't as 
important as the quest itself: "For me, Shambhala, you see, turned out to be 
not a goal but an absence. Not the discovery of a place but the act of 
leaving the futureless place where I was. And in the process I arrived at 
Constantinople" - where he found himself an earthly wife.

So yes, I'll happily acknowledge Pynchon's penchant for hidden truths, but 
I'll also try keep his pronounced skepticism in mind at the same time. I 
think a loyal reading of Pynchon's work should consider both drives. Keep 
cool, but care.

Finally, I'll return to Hollander once again, with a couple of questions for 
you:

A) Do you really agree with Hollander that Lot 49 is an "encrypted 
meditation on the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy", as he 
claims in his Magic Eye-essay?

B) Do you really believe that Pynchon with Lot 49 deliberately decided to 
sit down and write a Menippean Satire?
That belief must be the basis for accepting Hollander's claim that Pynchon's 
use of Varo points us to: "Marcus Terentius Varro, who only happens to have 
written 150 Menippean satires, which is Pynchon’s method of alerting us that 
he has chosen to use the form of the Menippean satire." I just don't buy it, 
and even if I did, I wouldn't buy the argument that the reference to 
Remedios Varo is in reality a misdirection which leads "us from something in 
the text to something outside the text, from one name to a cognate of that 
name, from a painter to a writer, from Varo to Varro to Menippean satire."

Remedios Varo and her painting, with its obvious relevance to themes such as 
isolation, solipsism, and projection, are the important things here, not 
some tenuous connection to Varro (which again hinges on the belief that 
Pynchon deliberately wrote a Menippean Satire and deliberately wanted to 
tell us this in a roundabout fashion). I guess this is my answer to your 
original question:

>How is it that Varo wouldn't, doesn't, or can't lead to Varro, again?

I fully agree with this part of your post:

>How many are "too many" connections when connections seem to be
>Pynchon's fundamental point, or, maybe better to say it's noting 
>connections and trying to figure >out which are worth heeding.

I'm all for finding new and interesting connections in Pynchon's work, but 
I'll argue once again that the Varo/Varro-connection isn't worth heeding.

Again: thanks for a good post!

Best,

Tore

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