Pynch and homosexuals

[Joaquin Stick]

On Mon, 28 Jul 1997, Gershom Bazerman wrote:

> I knew I was a Pynchon-phile before I knew I was 
> bisexual, and to be quite honest, one of the hardest things for me  deal 
> with in terms of my sexuality was he realization that the author who had 
> more than almost anyone else defined my identity could be homophobic. 

As a straight reader of Pynchon, this is an issue that I almost have to
feel like I should disqualify myself from commenting upon, but here goes
anyway:

Pynchon's homophobia had never occurred to me all that overtly. The
homoerotic scenes that jump to mind are really only those of Melanie and
V. in the Paris, 1913 section of _V._ and the predatory sexuality of
Blicero/Weissman in _GR_. While they are both problematic images for me in
terms of their associations regarding homosexuality, I also have to
qualify my reading of these characters as not being a comprehensive
example intended to be a blanket statement regarding Pynchon's attitudes
towards homosexuality. The easy excuse in this case would be to say that
these characters are only "coincidenatlly" homosexual, but that seems to
be overly simplistic and downright untrue. Pynchon may in fact have been
homophobic (I hesitate to use "is" here since we are talking about books
written 25-30 years ago and I believe, albeit idealistically, in people's
ability to change for the better) when he wrote these books. It's been a
while since I've read _Vineland_ but I don't really remember what if any
take there is in that book on homosexuality. It does seem fairly notable
absent in _M&D_ which might be a notable omission in its own right (then
again, as the author, he is allowed to beat whatever drums he chooses in
constructing his fictions, especially since he is not a naturalitic
writers)

> But, a moderately close reading of _GR_ seems at least to me to ofno 
> other alternative. TRP consistantly links homosexuality to sterility and 
> death.

Can't really argue with this, but I wonder what his purposes for doing so
were. Again, is he talking about homosexuality in general or in terms of
these characters specifically. I won't insult intelligence by saying that
homosexuality is inherently "sterile" because, fortunately, some parts of
society have managed to allow for this to be overcme where biology does
not. Both books also predate AIDS, thereby excusing Pynchon from having
been a early spouter of the "AIDS as punishment" doctrine (which I don't
think he'd do anyway). I have no real answers for why this linkage occurs
here and would welcome any opinions.

> He seems mildly sympathetic towards pedophiles and S&M and just 
> about every other form of sexual "deviance" but homosexuality. Witness 
> the gay prison camp. Or the flittish camp superficiality of Clive 
> Mossmon. At one point, Pynchon does talk about "real love" between men 
> in the trenches, but it seems utterly nonsexual.

I'm sort of unsure what you mean by "mildly sympathetic". There are parts
of the V./Melanie relationship that are much more definable as
"fetishistic" than lesbian and that seems to cloud the issue somewhat.
Also, the "sympathy" you mention seems to be an odd concept from a writer
who has, in many ways, removed himself from the narrative. This gets back
to the issue of who narrates _GR_ and what Stencil's opinions are in
relating the story of V. and Melanie.

An interesting issue to raise, though, and one that I think is worthy of
discussion. I've bumped into this same problem with Wole Soyinka in _The
Interpreters_ and with Nadine Gordimer's _None to Accompany Me_. Even
Winterson's _The Passion_ has some questionably homophobic scenes (which
strike me as odd, given the authorship).

D. Alfred Fledermaus