BEER Group Read. Otto Kugelblitz

[Kai Frederik Lorentzen]

Interesting theory which keeps me thinking. What I have doubts about, 
however, is what you, applying the Kugelblitz model, call the novel's 
'dementia phase': Unlike you (and some reviewers), I wouldn't go so far 
to say that "plot lines no longer resolve themselves but trail off". 
Serious novels often try to avoid the plotisch-all-too-plotish. And then 
crucial plot elements do get resolved in the end! I'm thinking here 
especially of page 461, the last but one from the last but one chapter 
--- an almost classical place to resolve plot lines, no? Sure, we can 
question the credibility of Misha and Grisha (like that of every other 
of the novel's characters), but if the story they tell would not really 
shed some light on the circumstances of Lester's death, how comes Maxine 
here obviously --- "But now, well, not exactly a lightbulb - more like 
the glowing end of an El Producto - goes on over her head" -- 
experiences kinda nano enlightenment? There might even be a moral and 
political lesson implied here, and I don't think that Pynchon is making 
a joke on the reader's expense this time. Of course I could be wrong.

On the Kugelblitz theory itself: It's a theory on the life cycle, so 
Erik Erikson's "Identity and the Life Cycle" unavoidably comes to mind. 
Erikson knows eight stages from babyhood (conflict: urtrust vs. 
distrust) to mature adulthood (conflict: integrity vs. disgust for 
life). But the model of Kugelblitz only has four stages, which made me - 
you don't necessarily have to follow me here - think of the orgasm 
formula of Wilhelm Reich: Mechanical tension —> bioenergetic charge —> 
bioenergetic discharge —> mechanical relaxation. According to Reich, 
this formula is not only valid for the human orgasm but also for every 
healthy process in life. Could imagine that these two models were in 
Pynchon's mind and that he ironically blended them for his purpose. 
Both, Erikson and Reich, learned from Freud and had to emigrate to the US.


On 14.10.2013 01:05, John Bailey wrote:
> Super SPOOOOOOILERS: (scroll)
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> It's my feeling that the Kugelblitz theory gently structures the novel
> as a whole, and the way that a lot of people change their thoughts
> about the book as they read confirms it for me. This is absolutely not
> to say that Pynchon is posing the theory as valid, only that it is an
> early piece of mischief with deeper significance if you care to read
> it that way.
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> The early parts are solipsistic, all NY jibber-jabber, no narrative
> drive, too many pop culture references for their own sake, where is
> this damn thing going?
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> Then the zaniness, also kind of self-absorbed, kicks in, along with
> the sex, but not necessarily sex in a literal way. Think of it in
> terms of a narrative that becomes both more mature but also more
> hysterical.
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> The paranoia of middle age is obvious around 3/4 of the way through
> the book, and is about where early dislikers seem to start revising
> their opinion - the paranoid sections of the novel seem to be Pynchon
> returning to form, or at least working in his most familiar mode.
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> The dementia of old age: where plot lines no longer resolve themselves
> but trail off, and everything begins to occur in the perpetual
> present. Family becomes super important, but more important (to this
> novel as a whole) is Letting Go. The final sequences of the novel are
> full of Letting Go.
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> On Mon, Oct 14, 2013 at 9:42 AM, Mark Kohut<markekohut at yahoo.com>  wrote:
>> " a cross street where Law & Order had not yet filmed on"....showing the ubiquitiousness of THAT show---
>> it is ALWAYS on somewhere on cable, right?....and that it is about that crime and justice topic, showing Americans
>> proclivity for the subject---perhaps in a way traceable to Nixon's campaign phrase which helped carry him to victory as
>> he rode the societal resentment of 60s character types into the Presidency.
>> And then proceeded to overturn law & order.
>>
>> p. 2 is where I first laughed not LOL, since I'm still a recovering Puritan, but chuckled inwardly
>> and smiled outwardly, I hope:
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>> Otto's recapitulation theory, which has Freud scuttling him from the Inner Circle---this happened to lots of analysts
>> of course, not least Jung---with a "Great time to be finding THAT out" i.e. that death is actually, finally, sanity.
>> Notions of Freud's concept of the death wish; N.O. Brown's attempt to overturn THAT, i.e. the death wish "theory"
>> roll around my head but most, the surface joke that life itself is the opposite of being 'sane"......
>>
>> and all of Dr. Kugelblitz's normal stages of life (as expressed) can create a lucrative, lifelong practice in a city like NY where
>> so many go to shrinks to discuss......everything negative in their life and mind.
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>> Analysts make a living treating the problems of life (In NYC) and his school recapitulates his theory grade by grade.
>> Talk about school as "adjustment to life"....Or, in that good line "a loony bin with homework, basically"....
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>> wit with meaning.....
>> -
>> Pynchon-l /http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
> -
> Pynchon-l /http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
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