Queerness in Thomas Pynchon

[Paul Mackin]

>From Mathew:

1)  Crutchfield and The Westward Man-  Pynchon "queers" and thereby
undermines the myth of the frontiersman/cowboy hero, a homoerotic myth
if there ever was one.

You could say that, but an alternative take might be that the cowboy hero
is actually equestroerotic. Loves his horse most of all..

But seriously, I definitely see Matthew's point about ambiguity with regard 
to cowboys/pards as well as Clive and Sir Marcus:

 Clive Mossmoon and Sir 
Marcus, the comparison b/w the "meaningful" homoeroticism shared by men
in the trenches of WWI, which has now been replaced "by this idle and bitchy
faggitry" (616) of the Rocket-State. 

The dominant feel of the paragraph is one of mockery, but doesn't this penultimate (I think) sentence (or phrase actually)  shift  the balance considerably?


 I was just interested in whether anyone finds Pynchon's
depiction of queerness unsettling, or homophobic, problematic, whatever.

Pynch is never above using a slightly cheap shot to make his point.It's
nice when he can soften the blow somewhat.  Stereotyping is an aid many of the best writers use.Don't seem to mind whose sensibilities they tread on. Probably feel no choice in the matter. Expression is everything. 


It's interesting that Pynchon's dismantling of binarie systems of thought
seem to always favor one half of the binary (the half favoring a 
"subjective/probabilistic" side of truth) at the expense of the other.
(i.e. it's clear that Pynchon definitely supports Mexico at the expense
of Pointsman; Crutchfield and Westwardman above Clive and Marcus...)

The Mexico/Pointsman example would be a powerful one. If P is choosing
continuous over discrete (or boolian) he is striking a blow against not just THIS binary but binaries in general.

Which leads to the following question: Did P, upon rereading _V._ at
some point, vow that  from that day forward he would tone down on the binary stuff. That word "inanimate" pops up just a few times too many. _GR_
would raise the stakes. Of couse the Life/Death theme is never lost
entirely. And obviously the preceding is a big fat oversimplification but
it does occur to me.

				P.