CoL49 Group Reading - Week 1 Summary & Questions

[Michael Bailey]

Thanks, Mark, for the pointer to Richard Poirier, and for the reality check
- it’s unwise to build ambitious theories on a character’s name alone,
isn’t it?





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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