pynchon's misogyny

Craig Clark CLARK at SHEPFS2.UND.AC.ZA
Thu Oct 31 14:38:32 CST 1996


Bonnie Kyburz wrote:

> REpresentation has a lot to do 
> with sexism, perhaps more than just the writing of a plot where certain 
> things happen to that character or are enacted because of her/him.  How 
> is V. represented?  by BOTH authors?  by Fausto?

Interestingly enough, Susanne Kappeler's _The Pornography of 
Representation_ - which deals with this idea - is highly critical of 
TRP's status as a novelist: for Kappeler, the acclaim accorded to 
_GR_, with its frequent images of the sexual degradation of women, 
constitutes one mechanism whereby the White Male Establishment 
disempowers women. Personally I disagree: I believe that the 
"pornographic" (by which I mean degrading of women) elements in _GR_ 
are intended as ironies, to indicate not that women enjoy being 
forced into degrading relationships (which would render them purely 
pornographic, IMHO), but rather to illustrate the consciousnesses 
created by the White Male Establishment, including those whereby 
women are degraded. Anyone who mistakes Pynchon's work for a defense 
or even a complicit gesture of support for the White Male 
Establishment has clearly missed the boat.

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"



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