CoL49 Group Reading - Week 1 Summary & Questions

[Michael Bailey]

Everybody probably knows the lore tidbit about “Pierce Inverarity” being
very similar to stamp collecting terms, as in “pierced inverse rarity”

But I’m trying to remember a source for that - didn’t have any success with
a cursory Google.

Will find it eventually but assistance wd be appreciated





On Sun, Apr 28, 2024 at 10:55 AM 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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