IVIV amethyst is resilient. There is too much kindness in the room all of a sudden.

[Mark Kohut]

Laura,

Was going to save the speculations for later, but I'd say: for more/other than family, since they are not Doc's family. For a symbol that life, innocent good life will still come out of such a beginning, such loser parents. 

And, that Doc brings this family together again, out of his good-hearted P.I.-ness is TRP putting central that theme we have read in a few offhand lines.....doing good for nothing, for no return, for strangers, for the preservation of innocence and hope---girl as superhero,'Here I come to save the day" an American world-cultural theme post IV's period despite the paving over of everything.

Alruism/Goodness exists despite all the fascistic social Darwinism of America, of History.

Mark

--- On Sun, 9/6/09, kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:

> From: kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com>
> Subject: Re: IVIV amethyst is resilient. There is too much kindness in the  room all of a sudden.
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Date: Sunday, September 6, 2009, 4:30 PM
> Symbols/embodiments of what,
> Mark?  I'm not being snide, I really don't know what
> you have in mind.  Pynchon's books from VL on have been
> called by some (including me) his "family period."  I
> think Coy/Hope/Amethyst were tossed in as a family-affirming
> riff, but I agree with Rich that it didn't work as well as
> it did in, say VL and M&D, and the sentimentality did
> kind of set one pining for the good old unabashed hedonism
> of V, COL49 and GR.
> 
> Laura
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> >From: Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>
> 
> >
> >I'd say Pynchon here fell into his self-expressed
> weakness.....
> >Amethsyt and family were conceived as symbols first,
> embodiments
> >of an idea TRP wanted to present.....
> >
> >Unlike other parts, the 'life', the observations, the
> richness in 
> >making us believe...........ain't there.
> >
> >I read in my local paper a human interest story about a
> still-struggling woman, making it (at the moment) after one
> of the toughest of lives, having been born addicted.....
> >
> >When we get there, we can all riff on WHAT TRP wanted
> this family to represent thematically, no matter what you
> think of it.
> >
> >--- On Sat, 9/5/09, rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >> From: rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com>
> >> Subject: Re: IVIV amethyst is resilient. There is
> too much kindness in the  room all of a sudden.
> >> To: kelber at mindspring.com
> >> Cc: pynchon-l at waste.org
> >> Date: Saturday, September 5, 2009, 6:09 PM
> >> ditto. that whole scenario is so
> >> schmaltzy as is Doc's parents
> >> mindbarf
> >> makes one pine for the anubis and pointsman's
> spermy bed
> >> 
> >> 
> >> On Sat, Sep 5, 2009 at 5:00 PM, <kelber at mindspring.com>
> >> wrote:
> >> > Pynchon kind of glosses over the damaging
> effects of
> >> the heroin Amethyst has been exposed to in utero
> and as a
> >> young, addicted infant.  I found the description
> of her
> >> baby pictures pretty disturbing.  This isn't a
> moral issue,
> >> it's a physical and mental health issue.  Hope,
> Coy and
> >> Amethyst as a family unit isn't a very appetizing
> picture.
> >>  TRP clearly knows how fucked up families can be,
> and that
> >> fucked up families have to be accepted and
> forgiven, but he
> >> still goes overboard in sentimentalizing this
> particular
> >> little family, IMO.
> >> >
> >> > Laura
> >> >
> >> > -----Original Message-----
> >> >>From: Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>
> >> >>Sent: Sep 5, 2009 12:49 PM
> >> >>To: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> >> >>Subject: IVIV amethyst is resilient. There
> is too
> >> much kindness in the room all of a sudden.
> >> >>
> >> >>Hope, symbolic name for the mother of the
> child in
> >> the book, yes, asks about Shasta's relationship to
> Doc. He's
> >> touchy; projects jealousy?
> >> >>
> >> >>Amethyst looks great, not like her baby
> picture.
> >> Sits up as if a grown-up would tell her a story
> (another
> >> internal metaphor for what the narrator does, ala
> Tore's
> >> argument for rooms bigger inside [like the
> many-mansioned
> >> house of fiction]?
> >> >>
> >> >>But, she doesn't get her story. This is
> when the
> >> room was filled with too much kindness and Doc had
> learned
> >> that "kindness without a price tag came along only
> rarely,
> >> and when it did was usually too precious to
> accept".
> >> >>
> >> >>Without abusing it, which Doc 'was bound
> >> to"....Why?
> >> >>
> >> >>If Doc is the hippie of good will
> Everyman, why
> >> does TRP give him this aspect, this lack of
> character? Part,
> >> along with the entry of heroin, of the inherent
> vice of
> >> hippies (in gneral)....Bound to abuse the kindness
> shown
> >> them?
> >> >>
> >> >>Or is Doc "unreliable" here?
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >
> >> >
> >> 
> >> 
> >
> >
> >      
> >
> 
> 
>