CoL49 Group Reading - Week 1 Summary & Questions

Wed May 1 13:11:16 UTC 2024

What is the meaning of Maas in Dutch?
noun. mesh [noun] (one of) the openings between the threads of a net.
loophole [noun] something that has been left out of a law or contract that
allows people to legally avoid obeying it. (Translation of maas from the
PASSWORD Dutch–English Dictionary © 2014 K Dictionaries Ltd

I think I'll just leave it there, like a fart in an elevator.

love,

cfa

On Sun, Apr 28, 2024, 11:39 AM Jemmy Bloocher <jbloocher at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi James and Group,
>
> Excellent!
> I was thinking about Rapunzel - I need to read this story actually (and now
> years later I can read the original German and of course it had to be
> German!),
> Oedipa is effectively a prisoner. Interestingly reading it this time round,
> I felt the claustrophobia more than I ever did in previous readings. Oedipa
> is trapped by her position, by the characters around her and her fate is
> decided by factors almost entirely outside her control - the absurdity of
> becoming the executrix of Pierce‘s estate and more! Her escape from this
> tower we see later, but bringing Rapunzel in right from the off is
> important as we then see her tower illustrated (in our minds) by the things
> which are already encroaching and see them develop. She is in a barely
> reachable room, one window. Pierce is this multi-faceted thing which is at
> this window.
> Where and who is Mucho in this fairytale?
> Where and who is Dr Hilarius?
>
> They too, like Pierce, use different voices and faces (Fu Manchu) and
> oppress her (consciously or otherwise (is this unconsciously in Mucho? What
> are our immediate expectations/first impressions of a car salesman turned
> DJ of all things).
> I need to parse who the comparative characters would be in Rapunzel. I am
> off to look them up.
>
> Reading this I have a narrator always (unreliable?) and this stands true in
> my mind in the last page or so. It is almost televisual. I can almost hear
> the voice. Kind of like a cross between Bob Ross and Richard Burton.
>
> Will write again when not on phone, but computer
>
> Jem
>
> On Sun 28. Apr 2024 at 16:55, 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
> > ____________________________________________
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> >
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