CoL49 Ch5 third section Weekly Reading

[Mark Kohut]

And, on the simple level of socially observant (and a bit prescient)
fiction, TRP foretells
another real change in the America of the sixties. Hallucinatory Doors of
Perception-opening
drugs,, the psychedelic experience....think of that so-loved psychedelic
cover---the first copy of *Crying* I had--
of the paperback of *The Crying of Lot 49...*.which did signal early the
colorful swirl of events that were America
changing then....Oedipa was changing, right there on the cover. Oedipa was
us. Oedipa was America.

Does anyone know whether Pynchon had anything to say about that cover?
Whether he 'approved" it if his editor asked?
(I am pretty sure his agent---Candida---would not have had cover approval
rights back then---esp for the paperback, which deal
is done by the hardcover house anyway.....(they sell 'paperback' rights and
the split is 50-50....half to the hardcover house and half
to the author/agent.)   This was the edition that first sent his sales into
the stratosphere.

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30964570421&dest=usa&ref_=ps_ggl_18382194370&cm_mmc=ggl-_-US_Shopp_Trade0to10-_-product_id=COM9780553106206USED-_-keyword=&gbraid=0AAAAAD3Y6gv5myUqi21pNj3VmCzrZ2Ujs&gclid=Cj0KCQjwkdO0BhDxARIsANkNcreV1aoywi4GNIbWsgrstFM8UuuJSt6IiN43aYT3tJxW0dg90lUcL4gaAh_DEALw_wcB


On Sat, Jul 13, 2024 at 5:58 PM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>>
>