Re[?]: VLVL - Frenesi's Inscrutability

[David Morris]

ckaratnytsky:
>While I will agree the, ahem, perceived inscrutability of Frenesi's
>motives and actions are what propels the book, I think the so-called
>mystery behind her choices is a typical Pynchonian red herring.
>Except for the pesky way those blue eyes and great legs set us all
>aquiver, looking for a kindlier rationale, there's less to her than
>meets the eye.  Jane Fonda, man.

Me:
I rilly hope you're wrong.  It'd make me feel so USED.  I keep looking for 
the person, as do all the characters in the book.  If she's not there, 
what's the point of the book (and don't tell me "The Magic Flute," unless 
you fill out the picture [I promise not to steal your paper, Oh silent 
one])?  We are shown too much of her: her heritage, her many lovers, male & 
female, and the damage done them, the contrast between her and DL, her 
motherhood crisis...  Could P be so cavalier as to not really mean any of 
it?  Maybe I'm looking in the wrong direction.  Illuminate me, Oh Lord.

Doug Millison:
>I'm still learning about Pynchonian red herrings (and crave instruction
>therein). Maybe Frenesi is nothing, not even a cipher, and maybe she's
>evil, or, as I had to admit once about a person I was bound to stop 
dating,
>maybe she does what she does because she's just horny and that's that; I
>can't disagree with Chris that there's less to her than  meets the eye, 
nor
>that this characterization is aptly applied elsewhere. Frenesi's family
>still lets her come home when she loses her anonymity, though, because 
they
>love her no matter what she's done; despite fervent assurances we've heard
>today, the power of love is another philosophy that Pynchon hasn't been 
shy
>about propounding again and again, among others.

Me again:
Doug's definitely right about that "power of love" thing.  In VL,  P is 
melancholy romantic.  He knows how things should work out, but don't, and 
he longingly ponders all those better, alternate realities, hoping they 
might save us in the end (but when they do, isn't it a let down?).

I also second the call for a list of  other "typical Pynchonian red 
herring[s]"   Do you refer to other "mysteries", a la *V*?  The two would 
not be equal, nor less than meets the eye.