pynchon's misogyny

[The Dark Lord Matt]

I'd completely agree with you here.  V. definitely does attempt to deal
with "misogyny across the centuries", but, the question is does Pynchon
reinscribe the misogyny he critiques, or does he succesfully impress on
the reader the fact that misogyny is not natural, but a learned
phenomenon.  (cf. Linda Hutcheon's comments on postmodernism and
historiographic metafiction in _The Politics of Postmodernism_, _Irony's
Edge_, _The Poetics of Postmodernism_.)  I'd argue that Pynchon fails
somewhat in his attempt: not only does the novel seem to reinforce a 
"maleness" or a "masculinized" perspective towards V. (madonna/whore),
he also seems to essentialize certain qualities towards women (i.e. women
as goddesses, women as loving, nurturing v. men as cruel, cold,
emotionally unattached).  Again, whether this is a "bad" thing depends 
on your perspective: I'd argue that it is (For does this then imply that
women who are not "nurturing" are "bad" or "emotionless" [i.e. like Rachel
at the beginning of the novel] but many others - Camille Paglia, for
example, would argue that this is somehow empowering.  You might try and
argue that French feminism would find _V._ powerful, too (I think lots
of people misread Cixious, Irigaray Kristeva, and argue that they
"essentialize" the same way as Paglia) but I don't think this works as
well.  You certainly don't see Pynchon subverting gender roles as a
construct (a la, Genet, for example): he seems to buy into them wholesale
within _V._.

- Matt

 On Tue, 29 Oct 1996, Craig Clark wrote:

> 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"
>