pynchon's misogyny

[Craig Clark]

Bonnie Kyburz wrote:

> I'm not so sure that it's *Pynchon's* misogyny you're responding to.  I 
> have always maintained that V. A NOVEL deals with misogyny, patriarchy, 
> and power--across the centuries, that PYnchon reveals something of a plot 
> to suppress information on the Goddess and cultures that worshipped her.  
> There's apaper on the matter imbedded in Tim Ware's web page.  Also, one 
> link to that paper on my page at 
> http://www.cas.usf.edu/english/surfus/lenore.html.  It's called "She 
> Lives in a Time of Her Own" (yes, based upon the Erikson song).

I think Ms Kyburz has hit the nail on the head here. That characters 
in TRP novels are sexist doesn't necessarily suggest that TRP is 
sexist, even when the characters are otherwise portrayed with 
sympathy: I think TRP's moral sensibilities run deeper than "white 
hats vs black hats". Similarly, if characters in TRP novels act out 
or embody sexist mythic archetypes, this might have more to do with 
TRP's fascination with how these archetypes shape the world than with 
the suggestion that they represent a Given Unconstructed Truth.

 
Craig Clark

"Living inside the system is like driving across
the countryside in a bus driven by a maniac bent
on suicide."
   - Thomas Pynchon, "Gravity's Rainbow"