CoL49 Group Reading - Week 1 Summary & Questions

[Mark Kohut]

The pretty great Richard Poirier's review of *The Crying *had this;
paraphrased but very close:
Funny names like Pierce Inverarity turn out to lead to, if you went there,
a famous real life stamp collector
named Pierce who could tell you (or sell you) an "inverse rarity".

I am of the 'school' that believes that unlike Dickens' characters' names
(in general), Pynchon's are usually goofs, put-ons
as that 60s phrase had it....they are Tom joking with all of us about all
of the dead ends of supposed 'scholarship'.

It is a name referentially leading nowhere, another part of the theme of
'conspiracy". Another sign that is a mystery.

I will also put this reading in the context of Oedipa's name. First, I like
the scholar who read her full name as Oedipa my ass....
We cannot easily map her name onto any of Sophocles" drama and basic
meanings obviously. I say Pynchon knew that,
intentionally, of course. He has said in one of his early letters to a
friend (or his first editor)--'"my meanings are all there; on the surface
of the texts"and in one sense we can get that. Even if we have to look up
much, it is right there.....

So, since for those of us who know the whole short novel already and know
especially Pynchon's thematic use of the law of the excluded middle,
I also see Oedipa Maas as a name between logic and farce, so to speak...a
surreal joke of a name.

But also, speaking of both sides of an excluded middle, IF Oedipa Maas has
any connection to real world meaning, I think this: It comes from
Pynchon's immersion in Freud and his entourage--Fromm; Brown, esp as we
know---who deeply explored what Freud said the Oedipa Complex was really
about: The psychodynamics of history. Pynchon is a profound historical
novelist. Lot 49 is, among much else, his great thematic statement of THAT
concept....


On Tue, Apr 30, 2024 at 6:43 PM Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Everybody probably knows the lore tidbit about “Pierce Inverarity” being
> very similar to stamp collecting terms, as in “pierced inverse rarity”
>
> But I’m trying to remember a source for that - didn’t have any success with
> a cursory Google.
>
> Will find it eventually but assistance wd be appreciated
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, Apr 28, 2024 at 10:55 AM J K Van Nort via Pynchon-l <
> pynchon-l at waste.org> wrote:
>
> > Greetings,
> > Welcome to the first week of our group reading of CoL49. I'm your host
> for
> > the week, James, and I'm providing a summary as well as some questions to
> > ponder as we read. I'm really looking forward to this deep dive of
> Pynchon,
> > as this will be my first group reading. So here goes!!
> >
> > Summary -
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Oedipa Maas comes home to find that she has been assigned executrix of
> the
> > estate of a former boyfriend, the real estate mogul, Pierce Inverarity.
> She
> > remembers images of their relationship and then spends the afternoon
> > completing her housewife duties of shopping, preparing lasagna, and
> mixing
> > drinks, while she tries to remember the last time she spoke with Pierce.
> > Only while watching the news does she remember a 3am phone call from him
> > where he uses a number of caricature voices without saying anything about
> > why he has called. When her husband wakes and tells her to hang up,
> Pierce
> > promises a visit from the Shadow and then hangs up. As she is remembering
> > this, Wendell, her husband comes home, his sad work stories take
> precedence
> > over her questions about the executrix role. Mucho’s job at the radio
> > station is unfulfilling and his previous job as a used car salesman made
> > him commiserate more with the purchasers than his profession. When she
> > finally tells him, he suggests their lawyer, claiming to be incapable of
> > helping. That night she gets a call at 3am from her shrink, Dr.
> Hilarious,
> > who asks if she is taking her pills and if she will participate in his
> LSD
> > experiments. She tells him no on both counts. She wakes the next morning
> > and goes to their lawyer, Roseman, who first takes her to lunch and hits
> on
> > her then offers his advice and services. Roseman has an issue with the tv
> > show, Perry Mason, whom he considers a poor representative of his
> > profession. Oedipa remembers a trip to Mexico City where she viewed a
> > triptych by Remedios Varo. The center panel shows women weaving
> tapestries
> > that flow out the window of a tower into a void that their tapestries
> > attempt to fill. She cries realizing that Pierce is not the rescuing
> knight
> > that would save her Rapunzel. She asserts to herself that an “anonymous
> and
> > malignant” magic holds her in place. This magic can only be measured with
> > her cunning and fear, leaving her to wonder what could rescue her from
> the
> > magic.
> >
> >
> > Questions to ponder -
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > How do Mucho Maas' self-recriminations reflect an alternative to Oedipa's
> > Tupperware world?
> >
> > How are we to interpret the four images that come to Oedipa when she
> first
> > receives the letter (Mazatlan hotel door, sunrise over Cornell
> > western-facing slope, Bartok Concerto, Jay Gould bust)?
> >
> > Is there a pattern to Pierce Inverarity's various voices in his cryptic
> > phone call?
> >
> > Who is speaking in the last paragraph? Is this the narrator, or is it a
> > monologue inside Oedipa’s miind?
> >
> > Why does the Rapunzel allusion appear here?
> >
> > Can't wait to hear your responses. I'll respond to the questions later in
> > the week (Wed?) with my thoughts.
> > In solidarity,
> >
> > James
> > ____________________________________________
> > WARNING:  The National Security Agency is likely recording  and storing
> > this communication as part of its unlawful spying programs on all
> > Americans.  Mass surveillance doesn’t keep us safe, and even the top
> > national security experts say that we don’t need it.  This communication
> –
> > and any responses – can and will be used against the American people at
> any
> > time in the future should folks in government decide to go after us for
> > political reasons.   And private information in digital communications
> may
> > be given to big companies by the government.
> > --
> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>