CoL49 group reading ch 3: 33, 34

[Laura Kelber]

Then Mike Fallopian, a “frail young man in a Sta-Prest suit” ...

I'm reading an old, tattered Bantam paperback version (13th printing,
November 1976), and on p. 31, the text is: "a frail young man in a drip-dry
suit" ... When was the change made? Drip dry (no need to put in the dryer,
is a different concept than Sta-Prest (no need to iron).

Also, the cross-edition error of confusing Czar Alexander II (who freed the
serfs in 1861) with Czar Nicholas II, who's best known for being murdered
by the Bolsheviks. A deliberate error on Fallopian's part? Or Pynchon's?

On another note, I noticed for the first time (unobservant!) a citation:

A portion of this novel was first published in ESQUIRE magazine under the
title "The World (This One), the Flesh (Mrs. Oedpia Maas) and the Testament
of Pierce Inverarity." Another portion has appeared in CAVALIER.

Cavalier was a Playboy-like publication with fiction and nudies. Apparently
the excerpt was called "The Shrink Flips." Anyone read either excerpt?

Laura

On Sun, May 19, 2024 at 4:23 AM Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
wrote:

> “Report all obscene mail to your potsmaster”
> This postmark raises questions.
>
> As she thinks later (I seem to recall) Pierce was rich enough to commission
> all kinds of fuckery.
>
> So if Wendell put the letter in their mailbox for the US post to pick up -
> a Pierce myrmidon could easily have intercepted it.
>
> Or it could just be a misprint.
>
> Metzger interprets it literally - and I think the idea of a potsmaster is
> somewhat pleasing, with which I think she shows concurrence by tossing a
> brassiere at him instead of something harder.
>
> - the question of Pierce hovers over the whole story - did he set all this
> stuff up? If so, why? Is it having the desired effect, or are her mental
> gyrations different than what he might have wanted?
>
> Why did she cry when Metzger told her Pierce said she wouldn’t be easy?
>
> Who is this Metzger anyway? He says he wasn’t close to PI, just drew up the
> will. But if Pierce was confiding about Oedipa’s “easiness” (which is tough
> to construe as anything other than sexual) then he must’ve expected their
> tryst; indeed, he may have directed it. Purchased it, to put it baldly.
> Although it’s also tough to imagine Metzger raising objections or his
> price, isn’t it?
>
> Why is she staying at a cheap motel? She didn’t check in with Pierce’s
> people and no credit card was mentioned as coming with the notification,
> was it? So she would’ve at least checked in with her own money - but since
> Metzger was motivated (& presumably paid) enough to track her down,
> Pierce’s funds would probably come into play. What’s an executrix role
> without a few perks?
>
> That such a room would have a walk-in closet would seem unlikely, but the
> gyrations with the dresser prove that description was exaggerated.
>
> Their restlessness when the room “became impossible” leads them out of the
> Paranoids’ purview in search of strong drink, to a bar called “The Scope.”
>
> The nose-picking nerds in The Scope resent them when they walk in, but the
> bartender explains the electronic music setup.
>
> Metzger asks questions as if unfamiliar, but if he’s doing all this at
> Pierce’s behest, he’s actually brought her there on purpose, and would know
> already.
> - unless Pierce just told him to bring her there & he’d never been before
>
> Then Mike Fallopian, a “frail young man in a Sta-Prest suit” invites
> himself to join their party, with a pitch for the Peter Pinguid Society.
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>