[Fwd: Re: Roger, Jessica and all things Queer.]

[Tom Stanton]

Andrew Dickson wrote:
> 
> Subject: Re: Roger, Jessica and all things Queer.
> Date: Mon, 25 Nov 1996 00:43:02 -0800
>> Chris Stolz wrote:
>> _GR_ seems to me not to show us any one really "wholesome"
>> relationship, straight or gay...

> Andrew Dickson wrote:
> How then are we to take the seduction of Tchitcherine by Geli the witch?
> It may be an unwholesome relationship but there is a positive outcome:
> Enzian is rescued from his brother and he and Tchitcherine pass
> by one another in peace.  This seems to make a difference to the narrator
> who elevates the "magic" of the accidental and coincidental over the
> fantasy of controling and objectifing sexuality.  Any thoughts?

There are a lot of positive outcomes in the various relationships,
whether
"normal," "wholesome," or otherwise. Roger/Jessica "fuck" the war, at
least
for a time. Tchitcherine/Geli saves Enzian (and maybe Tchitcherine
himself).
Even Gottfried achieves a form of sainthood. I have to agree with Chris
that there are no "wholesome" relationships per se, but then I don't
think
Pynchon set out to write a wholesome novel in the first place. The book
is
a catalog of everything wrong with America and ourselves, so it should
be
no surprise that everyone, everywhere in the book, is engaged in some
form
of perverse coupling. 

Wasn't the working title "Mindless Pleasures?"