Class summary

We discussed the basics of Pynchon's life and his writing, including his noted reclusiveness, which might indicate a preference on the author's part to allow the message to be found merely in the medium: his novels. In examining the opening pages of The Crying of Lot 49, we suggested that Oedipa participates in the execution of Pierce's will out of a desire to further her own self-identity. We also explored the theme of paranoia that began to crop up in the novel related to Oedipa's encounter with her co-executor Metzger. These themes would all be expanded upon in our discussion of 11 September.

Passage

Pynchon, 10-12

Oedipa "had also gently conned herself into the curious, Rapunzel-like role of a pensive girl somehow, magically, prisoner among the pines and salt fogs of Kinneret, looking for somebody to say hey, let down your hair. When it turned out to be Pierce she'd happily pulled out the pins and curlers and down it tumbled in its whispering dainty avalanche.... But all that had then gone on between them had really never escaped the confinement of that tower. In Mexico City they somehow wandered into an exhibition of paintings by the beautiful Spanish exile Remedios Varo: in the central painting of a triptych, titled 'Bordando el Manto Terrestre,' were a number of frail girls with heart-shaped faces, huge eyes, spun-gold hair, prisoners in the top room of a circular tower, embroidering a kind of tapestry which spilled out the slit windows and into a void, seeking hopelessly to fill the void.... What did she so desire escape rom? Such a captive maiden, having plenty of time to think, soon realizes that her tower, its height and architecture, are like her ego only incidental..."

This passage sets up two of Oedipa's central concerns throughout the novel: how she can escape from the life that she has been living her entire life and to what extent her life is a prison that she has imposed upon herself. In other words, how can she escape a prison when she herself might be responsible for its manufacture as she, like the maidens in the painting, has tried to fill the void.

Terms

• Paranoia: an overwhelming fear (Freud would say a neurotic fear) that centers on the belief that one is being persecuted or threatened. Those who are suffering from paranoia do not always know who they are being persecuted by nor how the persecution is taking place. Paranoids may believe that the threat against them is part of a larger plot or conspiracy.
• Wiki. See here.
• Recluse: Someone who hides away from the public attention or lives in isolation. According to Pynchon, however, "recluse" is simply a word that "generated by journalists ... meaning, 'doesn't like to talk to reporters.'" (See CNN report below under Links

Links

• Thomas Pynchon / HyperArts: This is the biggest site for Pynchonalia on the Internet. There's wikis for each of his novels although they are severely underpopulated at the moment (feel free to join in), message boards, and a section for Pynchon newbies.
• Remedios Varo compendium: A listing of various image galleries of Varo's works around the web. There is surprising little about her and her life online.
• 1997 CNN Report that discusses Pynchon's whereabouts. CNN did capture Pynchon on video, which you could originally view on this site. The video is now broken, however. Conspiracy...?