TMOP Chapter 9 - Nechaev

[Mark Kohut]

2.  Is the "relief" D seeks a quest for evidence to prove the Finn's
charge false, so that he can wash his hands of further action (not
seek justice for a murdered son)?

3.  Or is the "relief" D seeks a quest for evidence that Pavel didn't
commit suicide ( that he WAS murdred), and thus D's neglect was not
the cause of his son's death?

Yes, why 'relief"?...(I dunno.)


--- On Fri, 10/17/08, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
> Subject: TMOP Chapter 9 - Nechaev
> To: "P-list" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Date: Friday, October 17, 2008, 9:55 AM
> TMoP Chapter 9 – Some initial thoughts…
> 
> D. sees the "plump, almost spherical" Finn with a
> tall thin woman on
> the street.  He surreptitiously follows them, and after
> almost losing
> them is directed to the blind alley entrance of their
> apartment
> building.  (Bind alleys?  Hmmm...)
> 
> D. tells the Finn he want to pursue her charge that the
> police
> murdered Pavel.  But he wants to do this "Not in any
> spirit of
> vengefulness.  I am inquiring for my own relief.  I mean,
> in order to
> relieve myself."
> 
> D's stated motive strikes the Finn (and this reader) as
> odd for a
> number of reasons:
> 
> 1.  Vengeance is the namesake of Nechaev's movement.  A
> discussion in
> this dwelling cannot avoid this spirit.
> 
> 2.  Is the "relief" D seeks a quest for evidence
> to prove the Finn's
> charge false, so that he can wash his hands of further
> action (not
> seek justice for a murdered son)?
> 
> 3.  Or is the "relief" D seeks a quest for
> evidence that Pavel didn't
> commit suicide ( that he WAS murdred), and thus D's
> neglect was not
> the cause of his son's death?
> 
> Amidst this discussion with the Finn, with the tall woman
> in the
> background, D has a vision of Pavel and his
> "chosen" bride:
> 
> "But who can this bride be?  Can she be the tall young
> woman (nearly
> as tall as Pavel) with the piercing blue eyes?"
> 
> And then:
> 
> "the tall girl leaves the room.  The rustle of her
> dress and a waft of
> lavender as she passes awake in him an unexpected flutter
> of desire.
> Desire for what?  For the girl herself?  Surely not – or
> not only.
> […]  Something to do […] with finding himself in
> Pavel's world,
> Pavel's erotic surround."
> 
> Later the tall woman invites him to sit with her at a small
> table and
> then aggressively twice nudges his foot with hers,
> "instep to instep."
>  And:
> 
> "A disturbing excitement creeps over him.  Like chess
> […]
> Deliberateness and tawdriness [because these advances are
> being
> witnessed by a child] […] Where could they have learned
> so much about
> him, about his desires?"
> 
> But moments later, when:
> 
> "he has a felling he knows more than he wants to know.
>  The foot
> [becomes] […] No longer a a foot but a boot" 
> [notice the near rhyme
> of foot & boot]
> 
> And immediately the vision of Pavel and his bride returns,
> with the
> bride "obscured."  The implication of all of
> these visions and scenes
> becomes clear.  Do you know where this is leading?  D
> knows, but
> represses the clear reality before him:  "Pavel would
> not be playing
> these games."
> 
> Clearly Pavel and Nechaev were lovers.
> 
> More next week…

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