P. and His Times

[Andrew Dinn]

davemarc writes:

> Let's go to the text (Slow Learner):

Well, that's not exactly the text I would have chosen. Firstly, P is
talking about his early short stories and COL49, not V and certainly
not GR. Secondly, P goes to great lengths to point out flaws in his
early work but never *never* says anything positive about any of it.
Why? Well leaving aside the ever-present possibility of tricksiness I
guess he just doesn't want to blow his own trumpet. But where does
this leave his commentary? But I get a strong impression that he is
pointing out flaws in this work because he recognised them and worked
his way past them in his later work. And that impression gets
confirmed by looking not at his criticism of his own writing but at
the writing itself.

For example, last night I was reading an essay of Hugh Kenner's on
Ezra Pound and Social Credit. Kenner argues that Pound's anti-semitism
was more a reflection of his times than a reflection of the man. What
motivated Pound and led to his paranoid conspiracy theories about
Jewish bankers screwing the world economy was a misguided but strictly
applied morality, so Kenner argues. Now I don't know the details of
Social Credit and am only aware of Pound's anti-semitism from the
pertinent appearances in his poetry (`the yidd is a stimulant'
etc.). But I do recognize the anti-semite in Pound. The same
prejudices can be viewed in their most pure and extreme form in Marvy
and Chiclitz. And the prejudices do appear in Pound's work. Not every
social endeavour requires Jewish stimulus to herd the cattle-like goys
into achieving something. Pound falls for the stereotypes and they are
there fair and square in his writing. No contest.

Well, where do they appear in Pynchon's writing? Where can you say
that there is a clear-cut case to be made? Even the bitch-faggotry
ascribed to Sir Stephen and friend is open to interpretation. And this
is hardly surprising since the Pound quotes form part of a poem with
the appropriate consequences for concise and direct encapsulation of
observations. A novel, especially a late C20th novel, provides far
more of a distributed exposition, relies on action at a distance,
building up of a web of significance. This necessarily complicates and
often leaves indeterminate the significance and direct import of any
isolated detail - is there even a direct import?

And I know there is an irony here that Pound's Cantos (where the yidd
quote occurs) are actually much closer to a late C20th novel than most
poetry since they too rely on action at a distance and repeated
structures which gradually emerge from the pages. Kenner makes this
clear with reference to a later canto where Pound deliberately bisects
some of his most lyrical writing with a coarse and crude anti-semitic
comment. The yidd quote really seems to be Pound. This one must be a
deliberate artifice by a master artificer. And why? Kenner argues that
it is a dramatic admission by the author of his difficulty in
controlling his anti-semitism and at the same time an attempt to
regulate the same passion. What does this say wrt the yidd quote? Does
it represent a change of view or merely express a balance which
pervades the whole set of poems? I think it is clearly the former. The
author and his changing views have clearly intruded. Is this the case
with Pynchon? I have not seen any convincing evidence one way or
another yet.


Andrew Dinn
-----------
And though Earthliness forget you,
To the stilled Earth say:  I flow.
To the rushing water speak:  I am.