Lot 49, Waste, Stearn vs Pynchon,exorcism WTF?

[Joseph Tracy]

On May 5, 2009, at 2:17 PM, Robin Landseadel wrote:


> On May 5, 2009, at 10:43 AM, Joseph Tracy wrote:
>
>
>> I tend to be skeptical of a certain view I hear that Pynchon feels  
>> uniquely aggrieved by the losses of the Pynchons in history.
>>
>
> I don't think that's the reason or purpose of the author's mining  
> of family history in his novel. Your reasons for its inclusion in  
> his novels seems rational to me. However, I suspect that heresy is  
> another important theme on account of Pynchon's family history. I  
> say that because there is so much heresy in TRP's novels. And  
> William Slothrop sticks out like a stuck pig.
>

Ok,  I do see the interest in heresy as a recurrent theme , but   
William Pynchon  also presided over a trial which found Mary Parsons  
guilty of  accusing someone of witchcraft. By his ruling  she was  
fined and given 20 lashes. She went mad, stories were told about her  
and her husband  and they were brought before Pynchon to be tried for  
witchcraft, the trial was moved to another court and she was hanged  
with important testimony coming from the Pynchon hearing.  So ,  
perhaps not exactly a shining hero in all regards.    Seems likely  
that TRP would be aware of his forbear's role in this case. Were the  
29 sock market losses the result of unfair market manipulation or  
just risky investments gone bad. We don't know if his sense of family  
history is fundamentally defensive, critical or mixed, but his texts  
point toward mixed family histories.

On the other hand I do think it likely that  the injustices in his  
own family may have contributed to his keen feeling for history's  
dispossessed.