CoL49 Group Reading - Week 1 Summary & Questions

[Jemmy Bloocher]

Hi James and Group,

Excellent!
I was thinking about Rapunzel - I need to read this story actually (and now
years later I can read the original German and of course it had to be
German!),
Oedipa is effectively a prisoner. Interestingly reading it this time round,
I felt the claustrophobia more than I ever did in previous readings. Oedipa
is trapped by her position, by the characters around her and her fate is
decided by factors almost entirely outside her control - the absurdity of
becoming the executrix of Pierce‘s estate and more! Her escape from this
tower we see later, but bringing Rapunzel in right from the off is
important as we then see her tower illustrated (in our minds) by the things
which are already encroaching and see them develop. She is in a barely
reachable room, one window. Pierce is this multi-faceted thing which is at
this window.
Where and who is Mucho in this fairytale?
Where and who is Dr Hilarius?

They too, like Pierce, use different voices and faces (Fu Manchu) and
oppress her (consciously or otherwise (is this unconsciously in Mucho? What
are our immediate expectations/first impressions of a car salesman turned
DJ of all things).
I need to parse who the comparative characters would be in Rapunzel. I am
off to look them up.

Reading this I have a narrator always (unreliable?) and this stands true in
my mind in the last page or so. It is almost televisual. I can almost hear
the voice. Kind of like a cross between Bob Ross and Richard Burton.

Will write again when not on phone, but computer

Jem

On Sun 28. Apr 2024 at 16:55, J K Van Nort via Pynchon-l <
pynchon-l at waste.org> wrote:

> Greetings,
> Welcome to the first week of our group reading of CoL49. I'm your host for
> the week, James, and I'm providing a summary as well as some questions to
> ponder as we read. I'm really looking forward to this deep dive of Pynchon,
> as this will be my first group reading. So here goes!!
>
> Summary -
>
>
>
>
> Oedipa Maas comes home to find that she has been assigned executrix of the
> estate of a former boyfriend, the real estate mogul, Pierce Inverarity. She
> remembers images of their relationship and then spends the afternoon
> completing her housewife duties of shopping, preparing lasagna, and mixing
> drinks, while she tries to remember the last time she spoke with Pierce.
> Only while watching the news does she remember a 3am phone call from him
> where he uses a number of caricature voices without saying anything about
> why he has called. When her husband wakes and tells her to hang up, Pierce
> promises a visit from the Shadow and then hangs up. As she is remembering
> this, Wendell, her husband comes home, his sad work stories take precedence
> over her questions about the executrix role. Mucho’s job at the radio
> station is unfulfilling and his previous job as a used car salesman made
> him commiserate more with the purchasers than his profession. When she
> finally tells him, he suggests their lawyer, claiming to be incapable of
> helping. That night she gets a call at 3am from her shrink, Dr. Hilarious,
> who asks if she is taking her pills and if she will participate in his LSD
> experiments. She tells him no on both counts. She wakes the next morning
> and goes to their lawyer, Roseman, who first takes her to lunch and hits on
> her then offers his advice and services. Roseman has an issue with the tv
> show, Perry Mason, whom he considers a poor representative of his
> profession. Oedipa remembers a trip to Mexico City where she viewed a
> triptych by Remedios Varo. The center panel shows women weaving tapestries
> that flow out the window of a tower into a void that their tapestries
> attempt to fill. She cries realizing that Pierce is not the rescuing knight
> that would save her Rapunzel. She asserts to herself that an “anonymous and
> malignant” magic holds her in place. This magic can only be measured with
> her cunning and fear, leaving her to wonder what could rescue her from the
> magic.
>
>
> Questions to ponder -
>
>
>
>
>
> How do Mucho Maas' self-recriminations reflect an alternative to Oedipa's
> Tupperware world?
>
> How are we to interpret the four images that come to Oedipa when she first
> receives the letter (Mazatlan hotel door, sunrise over Cornell
> western-facing slope, Bartok Concerto, Jay Gould bust)?
>
> Is there a pattern to Pierce Inverarity's various voices in his cryptic
> phone call?
>
> Who is speaking in the last paragraph? Is this the narrator, or is it a
> monologue inside Oedipa’s miind?
>
> Why does the Rapunzel allusion appear here?
>
> Can't wait to hear your responses. I'll respond to the questions later in
> the week (Wed?) with my thoughts.
> In solidarity,
>
> James
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