CoL49 Chapter 4

[Joseph Tracy]

Actually I am the one currently considering the sense the JFK assassination makes of the central quest of the COL  49.   I  usually do not read many other interpreters of Pynchon, preferring to get and follow my own ideas directly from the texts. But after seeing the title the essay you mention I vaguely  remember the magic Eye metaphor so I probably did read the Hollander essay, but it left little impression apart from the general idea and was not at the time persuasive and I had not read COL 49 yet. I read Pynchon’s work in an odd order, first Vineland, then V which is the first one I re-read and began to make my own notes.  And then essays, GR and COL 49.  I’m pretty sure I read the Hollander essay along with Pynchon’s own essay. When I 1st read COL 49 I did not see that angle at all.  I think I may go ahead and re-read Hollander’s piece again but have not decided. Maybe I will wait to the end of my own pursuits and then read it  and see if there is any overlap, but now I am curious. It was  later ,with Robin Landseadel  in the group reading of inherent vice that I had worked on the Idea that Howard Hughes was part of the rise of the California far right( Nixon Reagan etc. and possibly connected through Robert Maheu  with the Robert Kennedy killing.) It turns out Hughes was also a friend of J. J. Angleton who spoke at his funeral.    
> On Jun 17, 2024, at 9:57 AM, Hübschräuber <huebschraeuber at protonmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Following the discussion only sporadically. As regards JFK and COL49, surely Charles Hollander's essay has been mentioned?
So no, it has not been mentioned or referenced, at least so far, maybe this will provoke a review of that article,  or maybe not. Part of the reason I wanted to read COL 49 and suggested this read was just a feeling that of all his work I found it the most baffling and murky. Fangoso means muddy or murky  and my general sense is that somewhere in that lake with its colonial memorabilia  and bones was something I had missed. It was when I actually re-read it this time  that the Kennedy connection and the war to control media  seemed to make sense of the political or social dimension of the novel  in an intriguing way.  
> 
> https://pynchonnotes.openlibhums.org/article/id/2621/
>