TRTR Part I, Chapter V, Pages 179-181 CLASS SONG

[Mark Kohut]

psychoanalysis.....steady appearances like below in TR.
was a hot cultural happening among many "intellectuals" in the 50s, esp
new York ones...

Gaddis for it or agin it? to set up the question ridiculously..



----- Original Message ----
From: Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
To: P-list <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Wed, May 18, 2011 8:30:04 PM
Subject: Re: TRTR Part I, Chapter V, Pages 179-181 CLASS SONG

Erik T. Burns wrote:

>
> Then, of a sudden, the first suicide joke, that of a psychoanalyst,
> ironically enough.  Sosumi, but I think it's funny:
>
> "--He didn't kill himself, it was an accident.
> "--An accident! He ties a rope around his neck and climbs out a
> window, but the rope breaks and he falls forty-six stories, so it's an
> accident?"
>

2nd suicide of an analyst, though: Esther's shrink, a woman, kills
herself (page 80) after Esther marries Wyatt against the analyst's
advice.

Not a cynical view of analysis, exactly: such a deep reverse
transference and tragic result, indicates the analyst, at least, took
the process seriously!

Esther's thinking on this isn't very deep: "it confirmed something."

what would a deeply unpleasant episode indicate about either the
murkiness of Esther's psyche and the dangers of rooting about in it,
and/or the ease with which Esther dismisses things which might give a
caring person pause?

Although she's actually pretty sweet to Wyatt, imho, still probably a
fairly dangerous woman, a belle dame sans merci!