CoL49 Group Reading - Week 1 Summary & Questions

[J K Van Nort]

Greetings Jemmy,
I only see your posts on the list-serve, so I'll respond by pasting your response at the end.I immediately went and read Grimm's Rapunzel but in English and realized how much of the story I'd forgotten or never really understood. For one, I'd forgotten about the parents and the rampion leafy greens, to think the parents gave up their daughter for salad! Also the prince doesn't rescue Rapunzel but is ambushed by the witch after Rapunzel let's slip they'd been meeting. He escapes the witch but falls into a thorn bush which amazingly enough blinds him. Meanwhile Rapunzel has been left by the witch in a 'desert space'.  Apparently the rendez-vous had been more than just a kiss, because when the prince blindly gropes his way to her desert space, she has a baby boy and girl. She cries tears of joy to see him. They fall in his eyes and presto, he's regained his sight! They go back to his dad and live happily ever after.
Some interesting connections for the prisoner, Oed. I think that the patriarchal savior of this story isn't clear. Still Oedipa must find her own way out of the prison, since both Mucho and Pierce have failed. I lean to the narrator, as 3rd person limited/omniscient uses phrases like "she may fall back on..." and "As things developed, she was to have all manner..." which imply his knowledge of how this plays out, unlike Oed.
Thanks for the thoughts. Cheers!
In solidarity,
James
Jemmy Bloocher jbloocher at gmail.com 
 Sun Apr 28 15:39:21 UTC 2024
Hi James and Group,Excellent!I was thinking about Rapunzel - I need to read this story actually (and nowyears later I can read the original German and of course it had to beGerman!),Oedipa is effectively a prisoner. Interestingly reading it this time round,I felt the claustrophobia more than I ever did in previous readings. Oedipais trapped by her position, by the characters around her and her fate isdecided by factors almost entirely outside her control - the absurdity ofbecoming the executrix of Pierce‘s estate and more! Her escape from thistower we see later, but bringing Rapunzel in right from the off isimportant as we then see her tower illustrated (in our minds) by the thingswhich are already encroaching and see them develop. She is in a barelyreachable room, one window. Pierce is this multi-faceted thing which is atthis 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) andoppress her (consciously or otherwise (is this unconsciously in Mucho? Whatare our immediate expectations/first impressions of a car salesman turnedDJ of all things).I need to parse who the comparative characters would be in Rapunzel. I amoff to look them up.Reading this I have a narrator always (unreliable?) and this stands true inmy mind in the last page or so. It is almost televisual. I can almost hearthe voice. Kind of like a cross between Bob Ross and Richard Burton.Will write again when not on phone, but computerJem

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