CoL49 (1): Oedipa's a Head Case

[kelber at mindspring.com]

I can't find much either that really suggests that the Oedipus/Electra theme is explored in COL49.  Maybe it's a theme of The Courier's Tragedy?  Oedipa's very much a solitary figure, seeker, querent.  She doesn't seem to be subject to any of the jealous passions and obsessions that Oedipus or anyone suffering from an Oedipus/Electra complex would exhibit.  Even if you try to look at it more metaphorically - is Tristero the father, the mother or Oedipus?  

Laura


http://www.dogster.com/dogs/874

-----Original Message-----
>From: Robin Landseadel <robinlandseadel at comcast.net>
>Sent: May 3, 2009 6:28 PM
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: CoL49 (1): Oedipa's a Head Case
>
>I wish/hope that you good folks reading this can point to the  
>psychological implications of Oedipa's name and the role psychology  
>plays in CoL49. .
>
>Certain "jobs" appear through CoL49—Lawyers, Psychologists and  
>Entertainers—with frequent mixing of the occupations: A Lawyer writes  
>a film script as an indictment of the Perry Mason Show, the Lawyer  
>that shows up for strip bottecelli out in San Narcisco with Oed used  
>to be child actor, that lawyer works with another lawyer who wants to  
>play the other lawyer [who was a child actor] in another movie . . .
>
>I can see the lawyers/high finance theme coming in to point at this:
>
>http://tinyurl.com/2gb8aa
>[go to page 95: "Section 49. Who May Commit Waste"]
>
>. . . this eventually this points to "The Wasteland" and something the  
>author mentioned in "Slow Learner" concerning his obsession with T.S.  
>Eliot's magnum opus back when he was a kid.
>
>I know that the downfall of the Pynchon financial empire [George M.'s  
>piece of family history] was collateral damage during a power grab for  
>William Fox's "sound on film" patents—look for  "Upton Sinclair  
>Presents William Fox" and tell 'em the Dude sent ya.
>
>I know that Pynchon did his research on the uses of LSD that were in  
>vogue back in 1964. It was being "tested" as a potential cognitive  
>enhancer and therapeutic agent and was being used experimentally in  
>the offices of a few select shrinks working the two coasts. Early on  
>it was the sort of thing an insulated suburbanite housewife could pick  
>up on out in shouting range of Big Sur, positioned somewhere between  
>Santa Cruz and Ojai.
>
>I'm guessing that the psychological language used in CoL49 points to  
>deeper meanings than I've picked up concerning what happened between  
>Oedipa, Mucho & Dr. Hilarius. Like somebody's finally getting out of  
>their Oedipal stage, or somethin' like that . . .