The Garter from V to AD

[Matthew Cissell]

    Well I was afraid that the question of La Jarretiére had been covered in the 
reading of V., sadly I was not able to participate so I didn't read the 
comments. I'll have to go & come through them. If what follows is old stuff, do 
pardon me.
    Michael, I did look at the post you attached & you certainly go through the 
chapter pretty closely, but I have some questions. We learn in AD that it (La 
Jarretiére's death) was "all theater", but what textual evidence is there in V. 
to support that? (Your reading of Satin didn't really convince me. The physician 
who pronounces her dead was not summoned by Satin. Afterall, we are told that 
Mélanie didn't wear her device.) It seems to me that only with the information 
from AD (p1066) can we say that Mélanie's dramatic end was faked. 

    So why would TP do this? Could it perhaps be an attempt to connect his 
novels together (think Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha or other 'literary worlds' ala 
Blake, Joyce, Marquez) into an semi-interwoven whole? Mélanie helps achieve 
this,  The Garter (La Jarretiére) is circular like a ring, stretching around 
from the end of V. to the end of AD. Or is it meant to undrmine the certainly of 
our understanding, making us 'paranoid' about whether more information will 
arrive from the oracle, forcing us to re-read what we thought we were sure of. 
We are left Waiting for Pynchon. Or maybe both.
    I should add that I like Michael's idea because in a way it appeals to me to 
think that TP had so much scope that he knew when he was writing V. how he would 
end AD. However, I think it more likely that when he was writing AD he found 
ways to tie it all together; it's a simpler explanation (which i know doesn't 
necessarily mean better or correct)  that still requires a sharp writer. 

    
MC



----- Original Message ----
From: Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
To: P-list <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Wed, March 30, 2011 8:46:36 AM
Subject: Re: La Jarretière

Matthew wrote:
> Nice one Tore. Now the question is: What are we to make of that?


That he planned it all the time

textual evidence I posted:

a) http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=1102&msg=154562&sort=date

relevant passage:
page 459
- nasty business with the sharpened pole
- however, we now know it "was all theater"

- "Damn the German" oh ok, I guess he is the maker of the automatons...

page 460
- so like, V. is watching this happen?
- - that's messed up
--- (or is she in on it?)(nah)
--  coroners are presumably not immune to bribery in 1913
-- raspberry jam
-- it's probably something V. cooked up with a lover other than V.
-- she wouldn't have told Porcepic 'cos he was buds with V., right?
- the sweet cheat gone



b) http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=1102&msg=154563&sort=date
I've got a theory:
remember how old Satin did NOT go to the Black Mass, but sat there at
the table shuffling glasses with a murderous look on his face?
so - maybe he's a good guy.
and plus, he's like the choreographer, who better to work the
mechanics of it all, to help Melanie stage a fake suicide and get away
from V.?
Yup, that's my theory, and I'm stickin' with it.