Re: Oedipa’s Planetarium

[Mark Kohut]

Who is the antecedent of “You”? At this point I think she still means Pierce

I find no "You"....

On Sun, Jun 2, 2024 at 4:13 PM J K Van Nort <jkvannort at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Pynchon’s vision is cosmic, and I do think Driblette’s metaphor is
> Pynchon’s response to both critics and his readers.
>
>
> However, Oedipa says at the beginning of ch 4 that “it was part of her
> duty, wasn’t it, to bestow life on what had persisted, to try to be what
> Driblette was, a dark machine in the center of the planetarium, to bring
> the estate into pulsing stelliferous Meaning, all in a soaring dome around
> her?”
>
>
> She then remembers the bond she posted with probate court, identifying it
> as a monetary valuation of the obstacles she faces. She looks at the
> notebook with the muted horn where she wrote “Shall I project a world?”
> Then she says: “If not project then at least flash some arrow on the dome
> to skitter among the constellations and trace out your Dragon, Whale,
> Southern Cross. Anything might help.”
>
>
> Who is the antecedent of “You”? At this point I think she still means
> Pierce. On another level, if Charles Hollander is correct, then is this
> Pynchon contemplating a vision of JFK’ assassination in all its complexity
> and uncertainty?
>
>
> I’m not sold on Hollander’s premise. I do find it interesting that the
> only other lead female character in his novels is in Bleeding Edge.
>
>
> In solidarity,
>
>
> James
>
>
> Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
> <https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&c=Global_Acquisition_YMktg_315_Internal_EmailSignature&af_sub1=Acquisition&af_sub2=Global_YMktg&af_sub3=&af_sub4=100000604&af_sub5=EmailSignature__Static_>
>
> On Sunday, June 2, 2024, 15:18, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The "Shall I project a world?" line I have always read as a world beyond
> the one she lives in...
> Beyond Pierce's esp now that the Trystero has entered. IS she asking
> herself to project Trystero's world?
> And is the world a projectible one---like religions' worlds are?....she is
> asking herself that because no
> revelations beyond this world are happening and she is losing her
> world---her tower; Pierce's projections...
>
> This IS a new cosmic vision....Pynchon's vision is not narrow, not simple,
> not quotidian....
>
> On Sun, Jun 2, 2024 at 12:35 PM J K Van Nort via Pynchon-l <
> pynchon-l at waste.org> wrote:
>
> Oedipa continues with Driblette's planetarium metaphor that he is creating
> universes, but she seeks to project a world that Pierce Inverarity left
> behind. Why a planetarium and not a movie to define a life? Did Pierce’s
> life have a “pulsing, stelliferous Meaning” that could only be projected as
> a universe?
>
> We know why Driblette makes the comparison, but that doesn’t make sense
> with Oedipa unless she is just enamored of the idea.
>
> In solidarity,
>
> James
>
> Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>
>