CoL49 Ch5 third section Weekly Reading

[David Morris]

Pynchon could hardly pass up a Jester in that perfect role: Mind-Doctor.
The possibilities abound, but it is not coincidence that this medicine man
is offering Oedipa a psychedelic journey.  This is her vision quest.



On Sat, Jul 13, 2024 at 4:25 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
> >>
> >
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>