No Takers? (was Composition 101)

[j minnich]

>
>Karen Kaminski asks:
>"I'm curious...given your sense of the obscurity of "pig" as in, say, Pig
>Bodine in V, do you (or does anyone else privy to this reply) think that
>Pynchon's sense of characterization is, if anything, HIGHLY SYMBOLIC?
>

In the intro to _Slow Learner_ TRP writes that he erred in his early
stories, making the mistake of trying to create characters to represent
concepts.  (This is from memory only.)  Pig B., of course, first appeared in
one of the early stories.  Was it "Lowlands"?  I personally persist in my
own eccentric theory that Pig B. is the post-modern Jack Chase, that the
ne'er-do-well sailor Pig B. represents the quintessential sailor to Pynchon
in much the way "ideal sailor" Jack Chase did to Herman Melville (see _White
Jacket_), only in an inverted, anti-heroic sense.  At any rate, I always
find it entertaining to consider such a possibility.  I mean, isn't it
pretty funny to imagine Pig B. quoting Camoens to his chummies aboard the
John E. Badass?
            -j minnich