Danger Will Robinson! Danger! (Was warped . . .)

[Meg Larson]

"Everywhere I go I'm asked if the universities stifle writers.
My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them." ---Flannery O'Connor

Meg Larson
Saginaw Valley State University
University Center, MI  48710
mgl at tardis.svsu.edu


cfa sed, in part:

If Vineland cannot be commended on any other grounds (and I do not
cleave to that conviction) it must surely be praised for this
particular trick. Pynchon has created in Frenesi the image of the
fickle, mercenary, irresponsible succubus - and yet who, among his
readers and even his characters fails to fall for her. The most
ambivalent response to Frenesi seems to be that of HER OWN daughter.
To make the distaff side of this family the focus of both its good
and bad qualities is evidence (to this simpleton, anyway) that
Pynchon, in spite of the criticism of his handling of female
characters and issues, has a very sober and respectful view of that
sex. "They" are strong, competent, driven, and in the case of DL,
positively dangerous. As such, I think these female characters
represent a palapable evolution from Oedipa, who  , though not a
weakling, seems to have less "volume".


Me sez:
I've been pondering this insightful post from cfa, and it seems to me that
Frenesi, rather than DL, is the more dangerous of the two, for the reasons
that cfa describes:  she's fickle and mercenarial and irresponsible, and we
all fall for her in spite of ourselves.  While DL can kill physical beings,
F. kills the soul of beings--hence, Prairie's ambivalence toward her
"mother", b/c all she really knows of F. is what has been related to
her--she has no first-hand knowledge of F.  Is it possible, in light of the
discussion on family "legacies," that Prairie is trying to find hers?  The
family histoire of the Beckers' and Traverses certainly extends to Prairie,
but it seems to sort of stop with her as well; after all, she essentially
grew up "Wheeler" by virtue of being raised by her father.  Frenesi
certainly warps the family values but they were values handed down by two
parents and two families (and which she is doing w/ Flash and Justin to some
extent); Prairie seems to have gotten the short end of the stick in this
regard--a one-sided legacy that seems driven by Zoyd's ambivalence toward
his entire relationship with F. (and not to mention his anger toward her).
I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with this, so I'll stop here.

And I still hear Astra's dignified speech from M& D.
The man is a genius.


Fuckin' A.  B, C, a-and D, too.

M.