children & sex

[Chris Stolz]

Interesting reference there to _Lolita_, which is arguably as
misunderstood a novel as _GR_.  I think Pynchon might've got from
Nabokov a two-sided approach to  childhood, where children (or
adoloscents) are caught in between two states of being, and, like
other matters in the Pynchonian universe, this complication has
its own complications.  Nabokov's Lolita is also fascinating
because she is an emblem as much as a "real" person, which seems
to me Pynchon's modus operandi regarding his own characters.
Lolita is a symbol of America, purity, childhood, whatnot, and at
the same time she has a lot of control over her own actions.  And
at the same time as all this, the narrator of that novel is
definitely not disinterested, like the narrators of _GR_.

-- 
chris stolz		16 oakview pl. sw calgary ab canada t2v-3z9
cstolz at acs.ucalgary.ca	(403) 281-6794


	Digression One:  Ulrich recalled a similar experience dating
from his army days.  The squadron rides in double file, and "passing 
on orders" is the drill; each man in turn whispers the given order to
next man.  So if the order given up fron is "Sergeant Major move to 
the head of the column," it comes out the other end "Eight troopers
to be shot at once," or something like that.  And this is just how 
world history is made.

			Robert Musil, _The Man Without Qualities_