P's parents' politics

[matthew cissell]

Given a recent weak attempt to discredit my posts, inquiries or
contributions, I would like to respond by clarifying something.

  I have never accused anyone in Pynchon's family of anti-semitism. I have
referred to Boris Kachka's piece (which I don't think can be justly
maligned with terms like "slander" or "gossip"), but nothing more. I have
not made use of Jules Siegel's anecdotes, in part because of what John
Kraff questions as potentially "spiteful and some self-serving
revelations", although I would hasten to add that even Prof. Krafft goes on
in the same piece to refer to Siegel's Playboy article.  But let's pause
there.

   To be deemed an anti-semite today is very different from what it was in
the 50's. Then it was almost a badge of pride for many people. Granted, in
the 50's anti-semitism was in retreat, but still very present. Perhaps we
should ask ourselves how likely it was for a republican in Nassau county
(and in the case of Pynchon's mother, a catholic) to be at least somewhat
anti-semitic. Mind you, not the rabid Kristalnacht type of anti-semitism,
but the more 'casual', received anti-semitism.

I would stop short of making a claim for Pynchon's mother as anti-semitic
based on Siegel's Playboy piece, but that doesn't mean that I don't find it
possible or even likely. Having faced racism in my own family and found
anti-semitism in many casual statements, I don't think it slanderous to
contemplate these beliefs in others. Maybe some do.

Neither would I claim Pynchon's father to be anti-communist (whether mild
or vehemently so) although I would not be surprised to find that he made
anti-communist statements - we need only consider the time and place. To
that degree I think I have added something to the discussion of Pynchon
sr.'s politics, specifically his attendance of a meeting with Nixon in
1960. (I might add that I have recently found that TRP sr was fire chief
from '48 to '50 and also North Syosset Woodbury Community Executive
Committeeman 1957 - 59: a real Republican, but that doesn't make him a
McCarthy type).

  I respect Mr. Pynchon immensely and that includes his privacy. I am also
a scholar engaged in the study of his work and that means making use of the
sentient data to demonstrate the systems of relations that constitute our
embodied being in a lived social world. Understanding the genesis of the
author's habitus is a principle part of that.

  C'est en lisant qu'on devient liseron.

ciao
mc otis
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