CoL49 group reading - the Bortz household

[Joseph Tracy]

> On Jul 29, 2024, at 2:40 AM, Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Joseph wrote:
> 
> “The whole house is structured around a kind of indulgence of the male
> “intellectual” as he competes in a probably not widely followed area of
> research.The household responsibilities fall to Grace. The children’s
> misbehavior reflects that indulgence; they are not too different in their
> competition for attention and dominance from many of the adults in the
> story.”
>> 
> 
> There’s certainly a division of labor.
I really don’t see good things coming from kids with so few boundaries. BUT I’ve see some pretty disastrous results and we only get a partial picture here. . Parenting includes a transfer of  social responsibility from parent to child, and children and really everyone needs help with that process.  For me it isn’t  about exactly where the Bortz’s are setting the boundaries but Emory’s role as almost absent, not reinforcing Graces boundaries or stepping into their lives in his own role. Yes the trip speaks to spousal respect and shared interests and Bortz is very respectful, helpful and sympathetic to Oedipa and his students. It is just my experience that when kids are acting this way they are asking for attention and limits. Limits not necessarily as hard laws, but as activities or games with reasonable rules, and inclusion in the life of the parent.  Getting good at that is no easy task, but avoiding it or indulging angry, bullying or other bad behavior is usually  a worse problem than making mistakes.  It is fiction and what Pynchon is saying about all this is not super obvious. Sometimes things get crazy in the best homes. So being judgmental is dangerous. But in COL49 everything seems pared to the essence so my remarks came from that way of looking at it.

 It is interesting that several of his acquaintances noted that P liked and was good with children. One can see his Simpson’s style  sense of humor playing a role. Maxine and Horst  are both involved, boundary guarding parents who have very warm relations with their sons and other folks’ children. Talk, sharing time and feedback are part of their fundamental commitments and we see the same in Maxine and her Father.  Zoyd sets very loose boundaries but he is there for Prairie and they stay connected as she matures, he does not interfere as she connects to her mother’s story and that looks pretty wise..  Webb Traverse tries to teach his children what to think instead of how to treat others and his boundaries are not coming from the core instinct of parental love but hard cultural rules. It sounds like his love for Mayva was a break from those rules, but he clearly misses the mark with Lake. 
   I wonder if anyone has written a paper on  family/parenting as seen in Pynchon’s novels.   Pynchon likes lowbrow art with a satiric edge and he has parents and children bonding around that in BE.


> 
> But do we want to get judgy about the kids, calling for a sterner paternal
> presence in order to fit them for lifelong quiet obedience?
> 
> Bortz specializes in drama; the immoderate content of the plays, on top of
> the usual tv etc, is seeping into household conversations, leading to some
> rude talk but also developing concepts &; the kids aren’t completely
> insulated from the sadness and drinking surrounding Driblette’s suicide -
> Maxine (shades of BE) threw a bottle through a window (shades of “Entropy”)
> but discipline was forthcoming via Grace - less of a physical disparity
> than from Emory, almost certainly, and less likely to cause lasting trauma.
> 
> 
> Also, Grace accompanied Emory to the Vatican Library -
> 
> “Illicit microfilms of the illustrations in that Vatican edition. Smuggled
> out in ’61. Grace and I were there on a grant.”
> 
> - from stories I’ve read, I’ve gotten the impression that it wasn’t
> uncommon in the ‘60s (& not unknown even now) for professors to marry
> bright students - or they could’ve been students together. ‘61 was only 3
> years prior. Grace seems to’ve been important enough to the endeavor to
> include her on a lengthy trip, during very early childhood of their
> offspring. Helpful & sympathetic relatives? Anyway, she’s not been totally
> locked down at home.
> --
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