IVIV 76

[John Bailey]

On top of Michael B's notes re: Mickey's rumoured appearances around
the traps...

Taken in sum, they all seem to paint a portrait of a counter-cultural
or subversive or transcendent or cartoonish or simply mad figure -
wasted, angelic, possibly delusional, vaguely criminal, etc. At first
I'd read this more as the kind of reports Doc's 'contacts' would be
likely to give - hinting more at the freaks he hangs with. But knowing
the rest of the book, it seems we're hearing about the property
developer who's gone off the rails and embraced the world those freaks
inhabit.

I suppose the two things at work here then are:

The unreliable and hydra-like nature of rumours and urban legends (of
which Mickey has temporarily become a part)
and
The picture of Mickey this list creates

In the first instance, it's fun to put Pynchon in Mickey's place and
remember all those rumours that have circulated regarding him -
Unabomber, Wanda Tinasky, Sancho Villa-esque Mexico crazy jumping out
of windows, collection of writers collaborating under an assumed name,
etc.

In the second, Mickey (again) gives of a whiff of Peirce Inverarity
here - another tycoon whose last communication with Oedipa is pretty
loopy and cartoonish (all those assumed voices).