Asians in Pynchon ( was Re: Japanese in Vineland redux)

[Craig Clark]

Teenage Riot wrote:
>I'm taking a
>new class on representations of Asian culture in American literature(by
>writers OTHER than Asian-Americans) and the question allofasudden seems
>pretty damn interesting.  Previously, the most notable reference that I can
>think of to Asia, in all of TRP's work, is number 37, the "Fu Manchu".  I
>can't recall of a single Asian character.
  
Davemarc reminded him 
> There are a Kouple of Krazy Komikazes in GR.

Don't forget the following in GR: Ensign Morituri, and a substantial number 
of Khirgiz people with names I cannot recall, because they're all so 
strangely spelt... What'sinteresting about these characters is that 
they are much more sympathetically portrayed than the stereotypical 
portrayal of Asians in US popular culture (of which Rohmer's Fu Manchu is 
a good example, parodied throughout the novel: so are the Komikal 
Kamikazes, again as a parody).

Digressing for a moment to mention another of my favourite artists: 
Teenage Riot, check out (if you can) Stephen Sondheim's 1976 stage 
musical _Pacific Overtures_. It's a Kabuki-meets-Broadway piece about 
US economic and cultural imperialism in 19th Century Japan, as seen 
through Japanese eyes: it appeared on Broadway a few months after the 
fall of Saigon. There's a wonderful complete recording available by the
English National Opera. You might find it interesting listening in view 
of your class.

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"