VLVL [8] When BV possessed her

[Terrance F. Flaherty]

Doug Millison wrote:

> Using the light and film metaphors that filter Frenesi's world, she is a
> "negative" of the slave Austra in M&D, Pynchon's view from the inside out
> of a woman "possessed", holding an enigma at the core -- the sexual bond
> with her lord and master -- and possessing an irreducible nub of
> independence that her master can never dominate. Recall Austra led on a
> leash, strangely defiant, among her captors, as we see Frenesi bantering
> with BV at PREP (VL 273-274) and running away at her earliest opportunity.
>
> I don't understand the metaphore. How is Frenesi a negative of Austra? I
> understand "and possessing an irreducible nub of independence that her
> master can never dominate. Recall Austra led on a leash, strangely defiant,
> among her captors, as we see Frenesi bantering
> with BV at PREP (VL 273-274) and running away at her earliest opportunity."
>
>