CoL49 group reading ch 3: 33, 34

[Mark Kohut]

Laura,

Small terrific find...

And, No I did not read either mag excerpt but you can see there are changes
even from the title..I have read
that there are (small) changes....

Here's a backstory regarding it being in *Cavalier.*...a plethora of
Playboy mag wanna-bes sprung up like erections
in the period and some of them felt that to draw some of---or add to---the
Playboy audience they should do what
Playboy did-----pay real money for real writers' stories.....(I actually
remember reading about this in the abstract)---
So, Cavalier musta paid well---did it outbid Playboy? Even Esquire for the
second part?.....

I don't know and I don't know if we collectively know....

I only read *Playboy* for the stories, of course and don't think I ever
even bought one....(someone else had them)... 🤣   And one thing I can't
forget is how many languages all the "models" knew....
Yeah, yeah....I still hardly know English.

Mark

On Sun, May 19, 2024 at 12:44 PM Laura Kelber <laurakelber at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
> >
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>