CoL49 (1): Oedipa's a Head Case

[Tara Brady]

"I can't find much either that really suggests that the Oedipus/Electra
theme is explored in COL49" ...

I'm with you, Laura. At a stretch you could get out the cookie cutter, mark
Pierce as a father figure and say that Lot 49 charts the development of a
superego. (Pierce does have a certain parental charisma - when Oedipa
recalls looking at the Remedios Varo, there's a definite daddy/Santa Claus
vibe)

But given Pynchon's depiction of mental health professionals elsewhere,
given that Oedipa is seen to reject certainty (not a terribly
superegotistical thing to do), given Pynchon's love of red herrings, etc,
etc...

Also, I can think of many dialects that split duplicated vowels into
separate vowel sounds.

Our heroine's name can be read aloud as Oedipa Mars or Oedipa Moss, but
might it not also be rendered as Oedipa My-Ass?

Then again, in this part of the world we do like inventing vowels where
there were none before.

Tara.


2009/5/3 <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 . . .
>
>
>
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