Harper Valley PTA Report

[Andrew Dinn]

ckaratnytsky at nypl.org writes:

>      Hmm.  OK.  This is what I wanted to know about.  The viewing of the 
>      pornographic image and the consequent jerk-off is not *only* about 
>      getting one's rocks off, though the subtext may be more than most men 
>      care to delve into.  Is that it?  Humankind cannot bear very much 
>      reality, sez Mr. Eliot.  Deep longing and unfulfillment is masked by 
>      male power.  Do I understand this correctly?  (But how did so much 
>      unhappiness come to fuel an industry?  What happened to erotic art?  
>      Why *isn't* feel supreme, as nice Paul Mackin sez?  A-and why aren't 
>      we (women, real ones) enough?)

Well, no. In many ways `the viewing of the pornographic image and the
consequent jerk-off' is all about getting one's rocks off. I mean what
else is there to get out of such a sorry situation. But I am sure that
most men are aware of the unsatisfactory nature of the transaction and
the amount of artifice and suspension of disbelief that it requires to
achieve the desired effect. Not that substituting a real live piece of
flesh, even a loving partner of many years acquaintance, can be
counted on as a sovereign remedy for such problems. Sex can be good or
bad irrespective of whether any `artificial' stimulants are used.
Kind of makes you wonder what `artificial' really means.

>      That Pudding shit-eating scene made you horny, eh?  Sade makes me 
>      horny.  And Blicero.  Does Pynchon *intend* to titillate us with this 
>      "ugly" stuff?  Or is this our (perverted?) libidos taking over?

I cannot understand how anyone can get switched on by that part of the
Pudding scene but other stuff yes. And yes also, Pynchon intends to do
this to us. Remember Cructhfield making it with everything except that
rattlesnake then `lately he's been getting interested in [it] too
[...]  fangs just tickling the foreskin [...]'. The slide into the
`perverse' is so casual and subtle you can easily go fall down along
with it. And we are so use to indulging ourselves in our 1st world
luxury that we almost want to fall down that slide. Yes, we are
already perverted, not by sex but by luxury.


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