plots, victims and heroes

[Robert Bruno]

This past weekend a friend told me that he found the characters of COL49 
"cardboard," and after mulling it over, I couldn't help but agree with 
him.  While I did get a multidimensional feel for the heroine of the novel, 
any other characters were so two dimensional that I quickly forgot them.  

In an attempt to expand this argument, I will bring in 
another book to show Pynchon's weakness in creating well-rounded 
characters that one can empathize with.  I just finished reading Barth's 
_The End of the Road_ which features a completely straightforward plot 
involving a love triangle.  While this plot can't even hold a candle to COL49's 
labyrinthian plot, you are presented with 3  fully realized characters.  The 
personalities of each are so entwined that each one causes the other to 
act in a certain way.  In other words, THE CHARACTERS DRIVE THE PLOT.  
Further, you get to know these characters so well that you can figure out 
how they will act in a given situation, and they not only determine the 
climax of the book but in it reveal the duality of fate/free will.  

Pynchon's novels are just the opposite; most of the characters are swept 
up in the plotline, or serve as devices to further expand the plot.  I'm not 
saying this is wrong, and God knows that Pynchon is an amazingly talented 
writer, but I really wish I could have cared more for Benny Profane, Stencil, 
Slothrop, etc, and less for the shit's creek that they were paddling in.  

Of course, none of the above is a "doer" in any sense of the word; all of 
those three stooges are victims: victims of love, paranoia and utter 
hopelessness.  As such they are unable to drive the plot; they 
can only follow the trajectory of their fate  or get lost in the vortex 
of history.  Kinda like life...

Rob (aka splash)