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

[Mark Kohut]

Chap 5....where we learn that the Hollywood starlets 'believe in Something 
[Spiritual]...Something [Beyond us]
just like today!.............

And, as America has become more Holllywoodized since the 50s, just like man, 
many Americans.(in my experience)

And---the person with an identity crisis who gets a tattoo---so he can recognize 
himself every morning!....I've heard
the phrase 'identity crisis' sense my unformed years and watch tattooing bllom 
in my lifetime and 

never thought of this revealing joke 
connection.....................................

Hilarious. Brilliant insights/tropes................



----- Original Message ----
From: Erik T. Burns <eburns at gmail.com>
To: Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>
Cc: Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>; pynchon -l 
<pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Fri, May 20, 2011 8:23:53 AM
Subject: Re: TRTR Part I, Chapter V, Pages 179-181 CLASS SONG

Gaddis was amused by it, bemused. That's my guess. He seems to think most people 
take things like psychoanalysis - even life - waaaay too seriously.

Don't forget laughter; it's what separates us from the beasts.





On 20/05/2011, at 12:23, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:

> 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!
>