CoL49 Ch5 third section Weekly Reading

[Mark Kohut]

JK: Why does she think that Dr Hilarius will help her?

A: He is her psychotherapist, her shrink. Upper middle class folk like her
then had faith
in psychotherapy, the new cure for unhappiness, uncertainty about life
decisions, life events.
He had wanted her to be part of a mind-expanding experiment, be in the new
psychedelic wave
of experience but she declined. Maybe she felt he could now help her expand
her mind. An expanded mind might
"get' the Trystero? Know whether real or she was paranoid. Much she
was trying to understand newly, so why not?....

But he's bat-shit crazy, TRP on the mind cures of the time maybe? Crazy
shrink leaving her, like Alice
still alone on that quest to understand what is happening.

Has any scholar plotted Alice's Adventures against Oedipa's? Margaret
Atwood did in part of her first novel.



On Fri, Jul 12, 2024 at 12:41 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

> Q: Although she learns much about W.A.S.T.E., Oed leaves the Bay area
> without finding a source or definitive W.A.S.T.E. facility beyond the bin
> and the currier's route.
>
> Trystero has no location, definitive or less than. That is part of its
> connection to the anarchistic incursion into history....
>
> On Fri, Jul 12, 2024 at 11:08 AM J K Van Nort via Pynchon-l <
> pynchon-l at waste.org> wrote:
>
>> Sorry for the delay. I'm taking up the hosting for the week.
>>
>> Summary:After helping the sailor up the stairs and onto his "Viking
>> funeral" bed, Oed gives him money and takes his letter to mail. She heads
>> down under the freeway where she eventually finds a trash can labeled
>> W.A.S.T.E. She hovers and watches until a young man drops in a bundle. She
>> puts the letter inside and returns to her observation point until a young
>> wino gathers the contents. She follows him and his successor whom he hands
>> the bag off. She follows this wino as he delivers around Oakland.
>> Eventually she returns to her hotel, where the deaf-mute association is
>> having a silent dance where every dancing pair dances to their own music.
>> She is waltzed around the room until the synonymous break, when she flees
>> to her room. After sleeping she drives the Impala down to Kinneret,
>> deciding to visit Dr. Hilarius, who takes pock shots at her as she enters.
>> His assistant lets her into the office, where she learns that Hilarius has
>> a psychic breakdown, believing the Israeli's are after him. She tries to
>> talk him down from the precipice, but he considers her to be an enemy. He
>> relates his history as a psychiatrist in the Nazi death camp, Buchenwald.
>> He was in charge of 'faces' that would have psychotic effects on the Jewish
>> prisoners. He describes one face that can create immediate and irreparable
>> psychic damage,  which he used on one Zvi. The sirens of the police can be
>> heard, and Hilarius pulls Oed into his office, where he tells her the
>> details, including his efforts to pay 'penance' by attempting to become a
>> believer of Freud.
>>
>> Questions:
>> Although she learns much about W.A.S.T.E., Oed leaves the Bay area
>> without finding a source or definitive W.A.S.T.E. facility beyond the bin
>> and the currier's route. Why does she think that Dr Hilarius will help her?
>>
>> How does Hilarius' crimes in Buchenwald move the plot forward or help to
>> understand either character?
>>
>> Is Oedipa Jewish? How does her response to Hilarius' revelations expand
>> her character?
>>
>> How does Hilarius' explanation of LSD and blending of individuals into
>> one compare with Oedipa's efforts to understand W.A.S.T.E.?
>>
>> In solidarity,
>> James
>>
>>
>> Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
>> --
>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>
>