feminized Vineland

[MASCARO at humnet.ucla.edu]

Following up some comments of Heikki and Andrew:

>> _GR_ is impurely involved with phallic powers, sure, but the kaleidoscopic
>> reflections of the narrator and characters won't cement any ego-boostings 
>> of male individualism. Instead, the text desparately tries to prompt its
>> readers to look for ways to subvert institutionalized phallic traditions.

>I'll buy that too, in so far as it applies to the male characters.
>Pynchon inverts Miller. What is interesting though is how the females
>get a very different treatment, or rather no treatment at all. The
>subversion is almost exclusively of phallic traditions.  Jessica,
>Katje, Geli - they don't really get dissected. Sure, they are used as
>stage props - Katje in particular - but it all reflects male concerns,
>male perceptions. In this respect (and maybe only this respect) there
>is a relation to Miller. But then why single him out.

I strongly agree, and that's why I think that in VINELAND TP develops a very 
different textual surface for his prose. and a different trajectory for his plot: Much 
less phallic, less linear, less projectile oriented, and much more--female--if that 
other suff is--male.  I think it's his mea culpa for all that boy talk--male perceptions, 
male concerns--in the previous work.  And IMO he gets it right.

john m