CoL49 Group Reading - Week 1 Summary & Questions

[O G]

The names are intended to induce a simultaneous sense of the shallow and
the arcane.  The style of writing itself is evocative.

The effect of which is an orbital paranoia.

The author has never in his ethereal earthbound stay stenciled a name that
did not for him flash a branching blue lightningbolt into other landscapes
territories and temporalities, which upon striking strike out again,
branching and flashing.

It is almost as if everything happens all at once.



On Wed, May 1, 2024 at 3:21 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
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