parrots in Pynchon

[Mark Kohut]

then I read more......they tell stories that transport kids!......

Pynchon must love the trickster figure......

Nah, not reading too much into it (in this case)...this is TRP.



----- Original Message ----
From: Great Quail <quail at shipwrecklibrary.com>
To: The Whole Sick Crew <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 12:08:27 PM
Subject: Re: parrots in Pynchon

> Let's riff on this for a moment....parrots are like tripping,
>(...)  a small symbol of the writer in the modern world?

Personally, I think that's reading too much into it. I myself have a parrot
for a pet -- her name is Loki, she's meeping happily on my shoulder and
gnawing at my shirt as I write this -- and I can tell you, they are highly
intelligent, mischievous, and amusing animals.

I think that Pynchon's "use" of parrots in his work simply follows the
traditional literature of parrot jokes, both oral ("Hello, Frank!" and "OK,
I give up, what the fuck did you do with the ship?") and visual (think
Looney Tunes, Disney's Iago, etc.) where parrots are gifted with elevated
levels of comprehension and speech. Frequently parrot appearances serve a
"trickster" function -- often the parrot is able to move back and forth
between levels of intelligence, often retreating to "Polly wants a cracker!"
when suiting their infernal purposes.

And what are those purposes? Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of
these beaky critters -- their goals are often ironic, with speech generally
occurring at inopportune or misfortunate times; sometimes they serve as a
sardonic Greek chorus. They are also known for being smutty, naughty,
indifferent, or malicious -- in other words, mirrors to our less noble
selves. 

By the way -- not all parrots are herbivores; some are omnivores, and will
prey on insects and occasionally smaller birds. (I actually feel a little
queasy when Loki picks off bits of chicken from my plate...)

Also, James Joyce owned a parrot, and a parrot appears in Beckett's "Film."
I have often suspected that Pynchon owns a parrot.

--Quail